THE SHIPS AND SAILORS 
OF OLD SALEM 



A 




The Pariay, one of tlie last of the Salem fleet bound out from Boston to 
jNIanila twentv-five vears ago 



THE SHIPS AND SAILORS 

OF 

OLD SALEM 

THE RECORD OF A BRILLIANT ERA OF 
AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT 



BY 



RALPH D. PAINE 

Author of " Tlie Greater Ainerica," 
' The Romance of an Old- Time Shipmaster" etc 



NEW EDITION 



ILLUSTRATED 




CHICAGO 
A- C. McCLURG & CO. 
■ 1912 



t7f 



Copyright, 1908, by , 
THE OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Copyright, 1912, "by 
A, C. McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO 



All Rights Reserved 



S. R. DONNELLKY & SONS COMPANY 
CHICAGO ' 



tCI.A3l9964 



"THE MERCHANTMEN" 

'Beyond all outer charting 
We sailed where none have sailed. 
And saw the land-lights burning 
On islands none have hailed ; 
Our hair stood up for w^onder, 
But when the night was done, 
There danced the deep to windward 
Blue-empty 'neath the sun." 



RuDYARD Kipling. 



'We're outward bound this very day, 
Good-bye, fare you well, 
Good-bye, fare you well. 
We're outward bound this very day. 
Hurrah, my boys, we're outward bound." 

{From a chantey sung while sheeting home topsails.) 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

THE Panama Canal has strongly revived interest in the 
American merchant marine. A nation, long indiffer- 
ent to the fact that it had lost its prestige on blue water, 
now discovers that after digging a ditch between two oceans 
at a cost of hundred of millions, there are almost no American 
ships to use it. 

In other days, Yankee ships and sailors were able to win 
the commerce of the world against the competition of foreign 
flags because of native enterprise, brains, and seamanship. 
Nor is it impossible that such an era shall come again. It was 
not so much the lack of subsidies and the lower cost of foreign 
ships and crews that drove the American ensign from the high 
seas as the greater attraction which drew capital and energy 
to the tasks of building cities and railroads and opening to 
civilization the inland areas of the West. 

If these records of maritime Salem hold any lessons for 
today, if they are worth while as something more than stir- 
ring tales of bygone generations, it is because those seafarers 
achieved success without counting the odds. They were enor- 
mously hampered by the policy of England which deliberately 
endeavored to crush Colonial shipping by means of number- 
less tonnage, customs, and neutrality regulations. It was a 
merciless jealousy that sought to confiscate every Yankee 
merchant vessel and ruin her owners. 

There were the risks of the sea, of uncharted, unlighted 
coasts and reefs and islands, and a plague of ferocious pirates 

vii 



Preface 

and lawless privateers who haunted the trade routes from the 
Spanish Main to Madagascar. The vessel lucky enough to 
escape all these perils might run afoul of another menace in 
the cruiser or customs officer of the King, and many and many 
an American merchantmen, hundreds of them, were seized 
in their own harbors and carried off before the eyes of their 
owners who could only stand by in speechless rage and sorrow 
at the loss of their labor and investment. 

Notwithstanding all these grievous handicaps, American 
ships and sailors prospered and multiplied, nor did they stay 
at home and whine that they could not compete with the more 
favored merchant navies of England and the Continent. They 
took and held their commanding share of the world's trade 
because they had to have it. They wanted it earnestly enough 
to go out and get it. 

Whenever the United States shall really desire to regain 
her proud place among the maritime nations, the minds of 
her captains of industry v/iil find a way to achieve it and her 
legislators will solve their share of the problem. And our 
people will cease paying over to English and German ship- 
owners enough money in freight and passage bills every year 
to defray the cost of building a Panama Canal. 

From log books, sea journals and other manuscripts hitherto 
unpublished (most of them written during the years between 
the Revolution and the War of 1812), are herein gathered such 
narratives as those of the first American voyages to Japan, 
India, the Philippines, Guam, the Cape of Good Hope, Sumatra, 
Arabia and the South Seas. These and other records, as written 
by the seamen who made Salem the most famous port of the 
New World a century ago, are much more than local annals. 
They comprise a unique and brilliant chapter of American 
history and they speak for themselves. 

viii 



Preface 

This era, vanished this closed chapter of American achieve- 
ment which reached its zenith a full century ago, belongs not 
alone to Salem, but also to the nation. East and west, north 
and south, runs the love of the stars and stripes, and the desire 
to do honor to those who have helped win for this flag prestige 
and respect among other peoples in other climes. The seamen 
of this old port were traders, it is true, but they lent to com- 
merce an epic quality, and because they steered so many brave 
ships to ports where no other American topsails had ever 
gleamed, they deserve to be remembered among those whose 
work left its imprint far beyond the limits of the town or 
coast they called home. 



IX 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I A Port of Vanished Fleets. ... 3 
II Philip English and his Era. (1680-1750.) . 21 

III Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates. 

(1670-1725.) 39 

IV The Privateersmen of '76 . . . . 58 
V Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman. (1776- 

1782.) 78 

VI Captain Luther Little's Own Story. (1771- 

1799.) 98 

VII The Journal of William Russell. (1776- 

1783.) 117 

VIII The Journal of William Russell (concluded). 

(1779-1783.) 134 

IX Richard Derby and his Son John. (1774- 

1792.) 149 

X Elias Hasket Derby and his Times. (1770- 

1800.). . 173 

XI Pioneers in Distant Seas. (1775-1817.) . 197 
XII The Building of the Essex. (1799.) . . 228 

XIII The First American Voyagers to Japan. 

(1799-1801.) 250 

XIV The First Yankee Ship at Guam. (1801.) . 270 
XV Nathaniel Bowditch and his "Practical 

Navigator." (1802.) 288 

XVI The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee. (1792- 

1800.) * . . .310 

xi 



Conlents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII The Voyages of Richard Cleveland. (1791- 

1820.) 329 

XVIII The Privateers of 1812 . . . .353 

XIX The Tragedy of the Friendship. (1831.) . 378 
XX Early South Sea Voyages. (1832.) . . 406 
XXI The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main. 

(1832.) 431 

XXII General Frederick Townsend Ward. (1859- 

1862.) 451 

XXIII The Ebbing of the Tide .... 482 
Appendix ....... 499 



XII 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Panay, one of the last of the Salem fleet bound out 

from Boston to Manila twenty-five years ago Frontispiece 



Custom House document with signature of Nathaniel 

Hawthorne as surveyor .... 

Page from the illustrated log of the Eolus 
A corner in the Marine Room of the Peabody Museum 

-The Marine Room, Peabody Museum . 
Certificate of Membership in the Salem Marine Society 
Title page of the log of Capt. Nathaniel Hawthorne 
The Roger Williams house ..... 

The Philip English "Great House" 

A bill of lading of the time of Philip English, dated 1716 

The log of a Salem whaler ...... 

A page from Falconer's Marine Dictionary (18th Century) 
Agreement by which a Revolutionary privateer seaman 
sold his share of the booty in advance of his cruise . 
Proclamation posted in Salem during the Revolution call- 
ing for volunteers aboard Paul Jones' Ranger . 
Schooner Baltic ........ 

Derby Wharf, Salem, Mass., as it appears to-day . 
Captain Luther Little ...... 

-The East India Marine Society's hall, now the home of 
the Peabody Museum ...... 

"Page from the records of the East India Marine Society 

^ The Salem Custom House, built in 1818 



6 
6 
14 
14 
18 
18 
24 
30 
36 
36 
44 

66 

70 

76 

86 

108 

120 
120 
140 



xni 



Illustrations 



Richard Derby . 

" Leslie's Retreat " 

The Grand Turk, first American ship to pass the Cape of 

Good Hope .... 

■ Nathaniel West .... 

WilHam Gray ..... 

Elias Hasket Derby .... 

The Ship Mount Vernon 

Elias Hasket Derby mansion (1790-1816) 

Prince House. Home of Richard Derby. Built about 
1750 . 

Joseph Peabody 

Hon. Jacob Crowninshield 

Benjamin Crowninshield 

Ship Ulysses 

Yacht Cleopatra's Barge 

Log of the good ship Rubicon 

The frigate Essex 

Broadside ballad published in Salem after the news was 
received of the loss of the Essex 

Page from the log of the Margaret 

The good ship Franklin ..... 

View of Nagasaki before Japan was opened to commerce 

Salem Harbor as it is to-day .... 

The old-time sailors used to have their vessels painted on 
pitchers and punch bowls .... 

Title page from the journal of the Lydia 

Nathaniel Bowditch, author of " The Practical Navigator 

Nathaniel Bowditch's chart of Salem harbor 

Captain Benjamin Carpenter of the Hercules, 1792 
- From the log of the Hercules .... 



PAGE 

152 
158 

176 
180 
188 
188 
192 
194 

194 
200 
204 
208 
212 
212 
214 
230 

248 
252 
252 
260 

274 

284 
284 
294 
304 
306 
308 



XIV 



Illustrations 



Pages from the log of the ship Hercules, 1792 

Captain Nathaniel Silsbee . 

Captain Richard Cleveland 

Captain James W. Cliever . 
'The privateer America under full sail . 

Captain Holten J. Breed 

The privateer Grand Turk . . . 

-An old broadside, relating the incidents of the battle of 
Qualah Battoo .... 

The Glide ...... 

The Friendship ..... 
•Captain Driver ..... 

Letter to Captain Driver from the "Bounty" Colonists 

Captain Thomas Fuller 

The brig Mexican attacked by pirates, 1832 

Frederick T. Ward .... 
-Captain John Bertram 

Ship Sooloo ..... 



FACING 
PAGE 

312 
318 
334 
358 
358 
370 
370 

380 
390 
390 
408 
408 
432 
432 
454 
486 
494 



XV 



THE SHIPS AND SAILORS 
OF OLD SALEM 



^f^t ^f)ips! anb ^ailorg of 
0lti ^alem 



CHAPTER I 



A PORT OF VANISHED FLEETS 



A MERICAN ships and sailors have almost vanished from 
/-\ the seas that lie beyond their own coasts. The twen- 
tieth century has forgotten the era w'hen Yankee top- 
sails, like flying clouds, flecked every ocean, when tall spars 
forested every Atlantic port from Portland to Charleston, and 
when the American spirit of adventurous enterprise and rivalry 
was in its finest flower on the decks of our merchant squadrons. 
The last great chapter of the nation's life on blue water was 
written in the days of the matchless clippers which swept round 
the Horn to San Francisco or fled homeward from the Orient 
in the van of the tea fleets. 

The Cape Horn clipper was able to survive the coming of 
the Age of Steam a few years longer than the Atlantic packet 
ships, such as the Dreadnought, but her glory departed with 
the Civil War and thereafter the story of the American merchant 
marine is one of swift and sorrowful decay. The boys of the 
Atlantic coast, whose fathers had followed the sea in legions, 
turned inland to find their careers, and the sterling qualities 
which had been bred in the bone by generations of salty ances- 
try now helped to conquer the western wilderness. 

3 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

It is all in the past, this noble and thrilling history of Amer- 
ican achievement on the deep sea, and a country with thousands 
of miles of seacoast has turned its back toward the spray- 
swept scenes of its ancient greatness to seek the fulfillment 
of its destiny in peopling the prairie, reclaiming the desert and 
feeding its mills and factories with the resources of forest, mine 
and farm. 

For more than two centuries, however, we Americans were 
a maritime race, in peace and war, and the most significant 
deeds and spectacular triumphs of our seafaring annals were 
wrought long before the era of the clipper ship. The fastest 
and most beautiful fabric ever driven by the winds, the sky- 
sail clipper was handled with a superb quality of seamanship 
which made the mariners of other nations doff their caps to 
the ruddy Yankee masters of the Sovereign of the Seas, the 
Flying Cloud, the Comet, the Westward Ho, or the Sivordfish. 
Her routes were well traveled, however, and her voyages hardly 
more eventful than those of the liner of to-day. Islands were 
charted, headlands lighted, and the instruments and science of 
navigation so far perfected as to make ocean pathfinding no 
longer a matter of blind reckoning and guesswork. Pirates 
and privateers had ceased to harry the merchantmen and to 
make every voyage a hazard of life and death from the Bahama 
Banks to the South Seas. 

Through the vista of fifty years the Yankee clipper has a 
glamour of singularly picturesque romance, but it is often for- 
gotten that two hundred years of battling against desperate 
odds and seven generations of seafaring stock had been required 
to evolve her type and to breed the men who sailed her in the 
nineteenth century. It is to this much older race of American 
seamen and the stout ships they built and manned that we of 
to-day should be grateful for many of the finest pages in the 
history of our country's progress. The most adventurous age 

4 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



of our merchant mariners had reached its cHmax at the time of 
the War of 1812, and its glory was waning almost a hundred 
years ago. For the most part its records are buried in sea- 
stained log books and in the annals and traditions of certain 
ancient New England coastwise towns,* of which Salem was 
the most illustrious. 

This port of Salem is chiefly known beyond New England 
as the scene of a wicked witchcraft delusion which caused the 
death of a score of poor innocents in 1692, and in later days 
as the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is not so com- 
monly known that this old town of Salem, nestled in a bight 
of the Massachusetts coast, was once the most important seat 
of maritime enterprise in the New World. Nor when its popu- 
lation of a century ago is taken into consideration can any 
foreign port surpass for adventure, romance and daring the 
history of Salem during the era of its astonishing activity. 
Even as recently as 1854, when the fleets of Salem were fast 
dwindling, the London Daily News, in a belated eulogy of our 
American ships and sailors, was moved to compare the spirit 
of this port with that of Venice and the old Hanse towns and 
to say : " We owe a cordial admiration of the spirit of Ameri- 
can commerce in its adventurous aspects. To watch it is to 
witness some of the finest romance of our time." 

* In 1810 Newburyport merchants owned forty-one ships, forty-nine brijn;s 
and fifty scliooners, and was the seat of extensive commerce with the East 
Indies and other ports of the Orient. Twenty-one deep-water sailingships for 
foreign trade were built on the Merrimac River in that one year. The fame 
of Newburyport as a shipbuilding and shipowning port was carried far into 
the last century and culminated in the building of the Atlantic packet Dread- 
nought, the fastest and most celebrated sailing ship that ever flew the American 
flag. She made a passage from New York to Queenstown in nine days and 
thirteen hours in 1860. Her famous commander, the late Captain Samuel 
Samuels, wrote of the Dreadnought : 

" She was never passed in anything over a four-knot breeze. She was what 
might be termed a semi-clipper and possessed the merit of being able to bear 
driving as long as her sails and spars would stand. By the sailors she was 
called the ' Wild Boat of the Atlantic, ' while others called her ' The Flying 
Dutchman. ' ' ' 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Nathaniel Hawthorne was Surveyor in the Custom House 
of Salem in 1848-49, after the prestige of the port had been 
well-nigh lost. He was descended from a race of Salem ship- 
masters and he saw daily in the streets of his native town the 
survivors of the generations of incomparable seamen who had 
first carried the American flag to Hindoostan, Java, Sumatra, 
and Japan, who were first to trade with the Fiji Islands and 
with Madagascar, who had led the way to the west coast of 
Africa and to St. Petersburg, who had been pioneers in opening 
the commerce of South America and China to Yankee ships. 
They had "sailed where no other ships dared to go, they had 
anchored where no one else dreamed of looking for trade." 
They had fought pirates and the privateers of a dozen races 
around the world, stamping themselves as the Drakes and the 
Raleighs and Gilberts of American commercial daring. 

In the Salem of his time, however, Hawthorne perceived 
little more than a melancholy process of decay, and a dusky 
background for romances of a century more remote. It would 
seem as if he found no compelling charm in the thickly clustered 
memories that linked the port with its former greatness on the 
sea. Some of the old shipmasters were in the Custom House 
service with him and he wrote of them as derelicts "who after 
being tost on every sea and standing sturdily against life's 
tempestuous blast had finally drifted into this quiet nook where 
with little to disturb them except the periodical terrors of a Presi- 
dential election, they one and all acquired a new lease of life." 

They were simple, brave, elemental men, hiding no tortuous 
problems of conscience, very easy to analyze and catalogue, 
and perhaps not apt, for this reason, to make a strong appeal 
to the genius of the author of "The Scarlet Letter." 

" They spent a good deal of time asleep in their accustomed 
corners," he also wrote of them, "with their chairs tilted back 
against the wall; awaking, however, once or twice in a forenoon 

6 



IDxatvitt of S.iUJU sV Oicbcvli) 



To the Imptclor* of ihe Port of S<UeDi 

ezrr ccrtitp, cnat /'7^'Vy '7 - 

Uulics on .M.uluiid./.^ cuuM.iitl 1:1 liw Jlo.i..;^ J -.■. 



C?^./.' "^^A^^- 



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Custom House docuinc-nt with si^niature of Natliai.iol Hawthorne as surveyor 



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Page from the ilhistrated loy „f the /vV».s-. Her captain drew such pictures as these 
of the shii)s he si<rhted at sea 



A Port of Vafiished Fleets 



to bore one another with the several thousandth repetition of 
old sea stories and mouldy jokes that had grown to be pass- 
words and counter-signs among them." 

One of the sea journals or logs of Captain Nathaniel Ha- 
thorne,* father of the author, possesses a literary interest in 
that its title page was lettered by the son when a lad of sixteen. 
With many an ornamental flourish the inscription runs: 

Nathaniel Hathorne's 

Book— 1820— Salem. 

A Journal of a Passage from Bengali to America 

In the Ship America of 

Salem, 1798. 

This is almost the only volume of salty flavored narrative 
to which Nathaniel Hawthorne may be said to have contributed, 
although he was moved to pay this tribute to his stout-hearted 
forebears : 

"From father to son, for above a hundred years, they fol- 
lowed the sea; a gray-headed shipmaster in each generation 
retiring from the quarter-deck to the homestead, while a boy 
of fourteen took the hereditary place before the mast, confront- 
ing the salt spray and the gale which had blustered against his 
sire and grandsire." 

Even to-day there survive old shipmasters and merchants of 
Salem who in their own boyhood heard from the lips of the 
actors their stories of shipwrecks on uncharted coasts; of cap- 
tivity among the Algerians and in the prisons of France, Eng- 

* Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, chose to insert a "w" in the family 
name of Ilathorne borne by his father. 

"The four years had lapsed quietly and quickly by, and Hawthorne, who 
now adopted the fanciful spelling of his name after his personal whim, was 
man grown.' ' (Nathaniel Hawthorne, by George E. Woodberry, in American 
Men of Letters Series.) 

7 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

land and Spain; of hairbreadth escapes from pirates on the 
Spanish Main and along Sumatran shores; of ship's companies 
overwhelmed by South Sea cannibals when Salem barks were 
pioneers in the wake of Captain Cook ; of deadly actions fought 
alongside British men-of-war and private armed ships, and of 
steering across far-distant seas when "India was a new region 
and only Salem knew the way thither." 

Such men as these were trained in a stern school to fight 
for their own. When the time came they were also ready to 
fight for their country. Salem sent to sea one hundred and 
fifty-eight privateers during the Revolution. They carried 
two thousand guns and were manned by more than six thousand 
men, a force equal in numbers to the population of the town. 
These vessels captured four hundred and forty-four prizes, or 
more than one-half the total number taken by all the Colonies 
during the war. 

In the War of 1812 Salem manned and equipped forty priva- 
teers and her people paid for and built the frigate Essex which 
under the command of David Porter swept the Pacific clean of 
British commerce and met a glorious end in her battle with 
the Phoebe and Cherub off the harbor of Valparaiso. Nor 
among the sea fights of both wars are there to be found more 
thrilling ship actions than were fought by Salem privateersmen 
who were as ready to exchange broadsides or measure boarding 
pikes with a "king's ship" as to snap up a tempting merchant- 
man. 

But even beyond these fighting merchant sailors lay a pre- 
vious century of such stress and hazard in ocean traffic as this 
age cannot imagine. One generation after another of honest 
shipmasters had been the prey of a great company of lawless 
rovers under many flags or no flag at all. The distinction 
between privateers and pirates was not clearly drawn in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the tiny American 

8 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



brigs and sloops which bravely fared to the West Indies and 
Europe were fair marks for the polyglot freebooters that laughed 
at England's feeble protection of her colonial trade. 

The story of the struggles and heroisms of the western pioneers 
has been told over and over again. Every American schoolboy 
is acquainted with the story of the beginnings of the New 
England Colonies and of their union. But the work of the 
seafaring breed of Americans has been somewhat suffered to 
remain in the background. Their astonishing adventures were 
all in the day's work and were commonplace matters to their 
actors. The material for the plot of a modern novel of adven- 
ture may be found condensed into a three-line entry of many an 
ancient log-book. 

High on the front of a massive stone building in Essex Street, 
Salem, is chiseled the inscription, "East India Marine Hall." 
Beneath this are the obsolete legends, "Asiatic Bank," and 
"Oriental Insurance Office." Built by the East India Marine 
Society eighty-four years ago, this structure is now the home 
of the Peabody Museum and a storehouse for the unique col- 
lections which Salem seafarers brought home from strange 
lands when their ships traded in every ocean. The East 
India Marine Society still exists. The handful of surviving 
members meet now and then and spin yarns of the vanished 
days when they were masters of stately square-riggers in the 
deep-water trade. All of them are gray and some of them 
quite feeble and every little while another of this company slips 
his cable for the last long voyage. 

The sight-seeing visitor in Salem is fascinated by its quaint 
and picturesque streets, recalling as they do no fewer than 
three centuries of American life, and by its noble mansions set 
beneath the elms in an atmosphere of immemorial traditions. 
But the visitor is not likely to seek the story of Salem as it is 
written in the records left by the men who made it great. For 

9 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

those heroic seafarers not only made history but they also 
wrote it while they lived it. The East India Marine Society 
was organized in 1799 "to assist the widows and children of 
deceased members; to collect such facts and observations as 
tended to the improvement and security of navigation, and to 
form a museum of natural and artificial curiosities, particu- 
larly such as are to be found beyond the Cape of Good Hope or 
Cape Horn."* 

The by-laws provided that " any person shall be eligible as a 
member of this society who shall have actually navigated the 
seas near the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn, either as 
master or commander or as factor or supercargo in any vessel 
belonging to Salem." 

From its foundation until the time when the collections of 
the Society were given in charge of the Peabody Academy of 
Science in 1867, three hundred and fifty masters and super- 
cargoes of Salem had qualified for membership as having sailed 
beyond Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope. 

More than a century ago, therefore, these mariners of Salem 
began to write detailed journals of their voyages, to be deposited 
with this Society in order that their fellow shipmasters might 
glean from them such facts as might " tend to the improvement 
and security of navigation." Few seas were charted, and 
Salem ships were venturing along unknown shores. The 

* (1799) "Oct. 22. It is proposed by the new marine society, called the 
East India Marine Society, to make a cabinet. This society has been lately 
thought of. Captain Gibant first mentioned the plan to me this summer and 
desired me to give him some plan of articles or a sketch. The first friends of 
the institution met and chose a committee to compare and digest articles from 
the sketches given to them. Last week was informed that in the preceding 
week the members met and signed the articles chosen by the committee. 

"Nov. 7. Captain Carnes has presented his curiosities to the new-formed 
East India Marine Society and they are providing a museum and cabinet. 
. . . Rooms were obtained for their meetings and a place for the deposit 
of books, charts, etc., and in July of the following year glass cases were pro- 
vided to arrange therein the specimens that had been accumulated." (Diary 
of Rev. William Bentley.) 

10 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



journal of one of these pioneer voyages was a valuable aid to 
the next shipmaster who went that way. These journals were 
often expanded from the ship's logs, and written after the cap- 
tains came home. The habit of carefully noting all incidents of 
trade, discovery, and dealings with primitive races taught these 
seamen to make their logs something more than routine ac- 
counts of wind and weather. Thus, year after year and genera- 
tion after generation, there was accumulating a library of 
adventurous first-hand narrative, written in stout manuscript 
volumes. 

It was discovered that a pen and ink drawing of the landfall 
of some almost unknown island would help the next captain 
passing that coast to identify its headlands. Therefore many 
of these quarter-deck chroniclers developed an astonishing 
aptitude for sketching coast line, mountains and bays. Some 
of them even made pictures in water color of the ships they saw 
or spoke, and their logs were illustrated descriptions of voyages 
to the South Seas or Mauritius or China. In this manner the 
tradition was cherished that a shipmaster of Salem owed it to 
his fellow mariners and townspeople to bring home not only all 
the knowledge he could gather but also every kind of curious 
trophy to add to the collections of the East India Marine Society. 
And as the commerce over seas began to diminish in the nine- 
teenth century, this tradition laid fast hold upon many Salem 
men and women whose fathers had been shipmasters. They 
took pride in gathering together all the old log books they could 
find in cobwebby attics and battered seachests and in increasing 
this unique library of blue water. 

Older than the East India Marine Society is the Salem 
Marine Society, which was founded in 1766 by eighteen ship- 
masters, and which still maintains its organization in its own 
building. Its Act of Incorporation, dated 1772, stated that 
"whereas a considerable number of persons who are or have 

11 



The Shifs and Sailors of Old Salem 

been Masters of ships or other vessels, have for several years 
past associated themselves in the town of Salem; and the 
principal end of said Society being to improve the knowledge 
of this coast, by the several members, upon their arrival from 
sea communicating their observations, inwards and outwards, 
of the variation of the needle, soundings, courses and distances, 
and all other remarkable things about it, in writing, to be lodged 
with the Society, for the making of the navigation more safe; 
and also to relieve one another and their families in poverty or 
other adverse accidents of life, which they are more particu- 
larly liable to," etc. 

Most of these records, together with those belonging to the 
East India Marine Society and many others rescued from 
oblivion, have been assembled and given in care of the Essex 
Institute of Salem as the choicest treasure of its notable his- 
torical library. It has come to pass that a thousand of these 
logs and sea-journals are stored in one room of the Essex Insti- 
tute, comprising many more than this number of voyages made 
between 1750 and 1890, a period of a century and a half, which 
included the most brilliant era of American sea life. Privateer, 
sealer, whaler, and merchantman, there they rest, row after 
row of canvas-covered books, filled with the day's work of as 
fine a race of seamen as ever sailed; from the log of the tiny 
schooner Hopewell on a voyage to the West Indies amid perils 
of swarming pirates and privateers a generation before the 
Revolution, down to the log of the white-winged Mindoro of 
the Manila fleet which squared away her yards for the last time 
only fifteen years ago. 

There is no other collection of Americana which can so vividly 
recall a vanished epoch and make it live again as these hun- 
dreds upon hundreds of ancient log books. They are com- 
plete, final, embracing as they do the rise, the high-tide and 
the ebb of the commerce of Salem, the whole story of those 

12 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



vikings of deep-water enterprise who dazzled the maritime 
world. These journals reflect in intimate and sharply focused 
detail that little world which Harriet Martineau discerned when 
she visited Salem seventy-five years ago and related: 

"Salem, Mass., is a remarkable place. This 'city of peace' 
will be better known hereafter for it's commerce than for it's 
witch tragedy. It has a population of fourteen thousand and 
more wealth in proportion to its population than perhaps any 
tow^n in the world. Its commerce is speculative but vast and 
successful. It is a frequent circumstance that a ship goes out 
without a cargo for a voyage around the world. In such a 
case the captain puts his elder children to school, takes his wife 
and younger children and starts for some semi-barbarous place 
where he procures some odd kind of cargo which he ex- 
changes with advantage for another somewhere else; and so 
goes trafficking around the world, bringing home a freight of 
the highest value. 

" These enterprising merchants of Salem are hoping to appro- 
priate a large share of the whale fishery and their ships are 
penetrating the northern ice. They speak of Fayal and the 
Azores as if they were close at hand. The fruits of the Medi- 
terranean are on every table. They have a large acquaintance 
at Cairo. They know Napoleon's grave at St. Helena, and 
have wild tales to tell of Mozambique and Madagascar, and 
stores of ivory to show from there. They speak of the power 
of the king of Muscat, and are sensible of the riches of the 
southeast coast of Arabia. Anybody will give you anecdotes 
from Canton and descriptions of the Society and Sandwich 
Islands. They often slip up the western coast of their two 
continents, bringing furs from the back regions of their own 
wide land, glance up at the Andes on their return; double 
Cape Horn, touch at the ports of Brazil and Guiana, look 
about them in the West Indies, feeling almost at home there, 

13 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and land some fair morning in Salem and walk home as if they 
had done nothing remarkable." 

Within sight of this Essex Institute is the imposing building 
of the Peabody Academy of Science and Marine Museum, 
already mentioned. Here the loyal sons of Salem, aided by 
the generous endowment of George Peabody, the banker and 
philanthropist, have created a notable memorial to the sea- 
born genius of the old town. One hall is filled with models 
and paintings of the stout ships which made Salem rich and 
famous. These models were built and rigged with the most 
painstaking accuracy of detail, most of them the work of mari- 
ners of the olden time, and many of them made on shipboard 
during long voyages. Scores of the paintings of ships were 
made when they were afloat, their cannon and checkered ports 
telling of the dangers which merchantmen dared in those times; 
their hulls and rigging wearing a quaint and archaic aspect. 

Beneath them are displayed the tools of the seaman's trade 
long ere steam made of him a paint-swabber and mechanic. 
Here are the ancient quadrants, "half -circles," and hand log 
lines, timed with sandglasses, with which our forefathers found 
their way around the world. Beside them repose the " colt " and 
the "cat-o '-nine-tails" with which those tough tars were flogged 
by their skippers and mates. Cutlasses such as were wielded 
in sea fights with Spanish, French and English, boarding 
axes and naval tomahawks, are flanked by carved whales- 
teeth, whose intricate designs of ships, cupids and mermaids 
whiled away the dogwatches under the Southern Cross. Over 
yonder is a notched limb of a sea-washed tree on which a 
sailor tallied the days and weeks of five months' solitary wait- 
ing on a desert island where he had been cast by shipwreck. 

Portraits of famous shipping merchants and masters gaze at 
portraits of Sultans of Zanzibar, Indian Rajahs and hong 
merchants of Canton whose names were household words in 

14 




A corner in the jNIarine Room of the Poaliody Muscnun. sliowing portraits cf the sliip- 
masters and merchants of Salem 




The Marine Room, Peabody Museum, showing the ships of Salem during a period of 
one hundred and fifty years 



A Port oj Vanished Fleets 



the Salem of long ago. In other spacious halls of this museum 
are unique displays of the tools, weapons, garments and adorn- 
ments of primitive races, gathered generations before their coun- 
tries and islands were ransacked by the tourist and the ethnolo- 
gist. They portray the native arts and habits of life before 
they were corrupted by European influences. Some of the 
tribes which fashioned these things have become extinct, but 
their vanquished handiwork is preserved in these collections 
made with devoted loyalty by the old shipmasters who were 
proud of their home town and of their Marine Society. From 
the Fiji and Gilbert and Hawaiian Islands, from Samoa, 
Arabia, India, China, Africa and Japan, and every other for- 
eign shore where ships could go, these trophies were brought 
home to lay the foundation of collections which to-day are 
visited by scientists from abroad in order to study many rare 
objects which can be no longer obtained.* 

The catalogue of ports from which the deep-laden argosies 
rolled home to Salem is astonishing in its scope. From 1810 
to 1830, for example, Salem ships flew the American flag in 
these ports: 

Sumatra, Malaga, Naples, Liverpool, St. Domingo, Baracoa, 
Cadiz, Cayenne, Gottenburg, La Guayra, Havana, Canton, 
Smyrna, Matanzas, Valencia, Turk's Island, Pernambuco, Rio 
Janeiro, Messina, St. Pierre's, Point Petre, Cronstadt, Arch- 
angel, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Surinam, St. Petersburg, Calcutta, 
Porto Rico, Palermo, Algeciras, Constantinople, Cumana, 
Kiel, Angostura, Jacquemel, Gustavia, Malta, Exuma, Buenos 
Ayres, Christiana, Stralsund, Guadaloupe, Nevis, Riga, Madras, 
St. Vincent's, Pillau, Amsterdam, Maranham, Para, Leghorn, 

* A costly new hall has been recently added to the Museum to contain the 
Japanese and Chinese collections. This building was the gift of Dr. Charles G. 
Weld of Boston. Its Japanese floor contains the most complete and valuable 
ethnological collections, portraying the life of the Japanese people of the feudal 
age, that exists to-day. Japanese scientists and students have visited Salem 

15 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Manila, Samarang, Java, Mocha, South Sea Islands, Africa, 
Padang, Cape de Verde, Zanzibar and Madagascar. 

In these days of huge ships and cavernous holds in which 
freight is stowed to the amount of thousands of tons, we are 
apt to think that those early mariners carried on their com- 
merce over seas in a small way. But the records of old Salem 
contain scores of entries for the early years of the last century 
in which the duties paid on cargoes of pepper, sugar, indigo, 
and other Oriental wares swelled the custom receipts from 
twenty-five thousand to sixty thousand dollars. In ten years, 
from 1800 to 1810, when the maritime prosperity of the port 
was at flood-tide, the foreign entries numbered more than 
one thousand and the total amount of duties more than seven 
million dollars. And from the beginning of the nineteenth 
century until the ships of Salem vanished from blue water, a 
period of seventy years, roughly speaking, more than twenty 
million dollars poured into the Custom House as duties on 
foreign cargoes. 

Old men now living remember when the old warehouses 
along the wharves were full of "hemp from Luzon; pepper 
from Sumatra; coffee from Arabia; palm oil from the west 
coast of Africa; cotton from Bombay; duck and iron from the 
Baltic; tallow from Madagascar; salt from Cadiz; wine from 
Portugal and the Madeiras; figs, raisins and almonds from 
the Mediterranean; teas and silks from China; sugar, rum and 
molasses from the West Indies; ivory and gum-copal from Zan- 
zibar; rubber, hides and wool from South America; whale oil 
from the Arctic and Antarctic, and sperm from the South Seas." 

in order to examine many objects of this unique collection which are no longer 
to be found in their own country. Professor Edward S. Morse, director of the 
Museum, and curator of the Japanese pottery section of the Boston Museum 
of Fine Arts, has sifted and arranged these collections with singular patience, 
expert knowledge, and brilliantly successful results. The South Sea collections 
are also unequaled in many important particulars, especially in the field of 
weapons and ornaments from the Fiji and Marquesas Islands. 

16 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



In 1812 one hundred and twenty-six Salem ships were in the 
deep-water trade, and of these fifty-eight were East Indiamen. 
Twenty years later this noble fleet numbered one hundred and 
eleven. They had been pioneers in opening new routes of 
commerce, but the vessels of the larger ports were flocking in 
their wake. Boston, with the development of railway trans- 
portation, New York with the opening of the Erie Canal, 
Philadelphia and Baltimore with their more advantageous sit- 
uations for building up a commerce with the great and growing 
hinterland of the young United States, were creating their 
ocean commerce at the expense of old Salem. Bigger ships 
were building and deeper harbors were needed and Salem 
shipowners dispatched their vessels from Boston instead of the 
home port. Then came the Age of Steam on the sea, and the 
era of the sailing vessel was foredoomed. 

The Custom House which looks down at crumbling Derby 
Wharf where the stately East Indiamen once lay three deep, 
awakes from its drowsy idleness to record the entries of a few 
lumber-laden schooners from Nova Scotia. Built in 1819, 
when the tide of Salem commerce had already begun to ebb, 
its classic and pillared bulk recalls the comment of its famous 
officer, Nathaniel Hawthorne: "It was intended to accommo- 
date an hoped for increase in the commercial prosperity of the 
place, hopes destined never to be realized, and was built a 
world too large for any necessary purpose." 

Yet in the records left by these vanished generations of sea- 
men; in the aspect of the stately mansions built from the for- 
tunes won by their ships; in the atmosphere of the old wharves 
and streets, there has been preserved, as if caught in amber, 
the finished story of one of the most romantic and high-hearted 
periods of American achievement. 

Salem was a small city during her maritime career, number- 
ing hardly more than ten thousand souls at a time when her 

17 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

trade had made her famous in every port of the world. Her 
achievements were the work of an exceedingly bold and vigor- 
ous population in whom the pioneering instinct was fostered 
and guided by a few merchants of rare sagacity, daring and 
imagination. It must not be forgotten that from the early part 
of the seventeenth century to the latter year of the eighteenth 
century when this seafaring genius reached its highest develop- 
ment, the men of Salem had been trained and bred to wrest a 
livelihood from salt water. During this period of one hundred 
and fifty years before the Revolution the sea was the highway 
of the Colonists whose settlements fringed the rugged coast line 
of New England. At their backs lay a hostile wilderness and a 
great part of the population toiled at fishing, trading and ship- 
building. 

Roger Conant, who, in 1626, founded the settlement later 
called Salem, had left his fellow Pilgrims at Plymouth because 
he would not agree to "separate" from the Church of England. 
Pushing along the coast to Nantasket, where Captain Miles 
Standish had built an outpost, Roger Conant was asked by the 
Dorchester Company of England to take charge of a newly 
established fishing station on Cape Ann. This enterprise 
was unsuccessful and Conant aspired to better his fortunes by 
founding a colony or plantation on the shore of the sheltered 
harbor of the Naumkeag Peninsula. This was the beginning 
of the town of Salem, so named by the first governor, John 
Endicott, who ousted Roger Conant in 1629, when this property 
of the Dorchester Company passed by purchase into the hands 
of the New England Company. 

The first settlers who had fought famine, pestilence and red 
men were not consulted in the transaction but were transferred 
along with the land. They had established a refuge for those 
oppressed for conscience's sake, and Roger Conant, brave, 
resolute and patient, had fought the good fight with them. 

18 




Certificate of Membership in the Salem Marine Society, used in 1790, showing 
wharves and liarbor 



^j^^amiBixE 5 



^ hlTMJfi 






Title page of the log of Captain Nathaniel Hathorne, father of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 
This lettering at the top of the page was done by the author when a boy 



A Port of Vanished Fleets 



But although they held meetings and protested against being 
treated as "slaves," they could make no opposition to the iron- 
handed zealot and aristocrat, John Endicott, who came to rule 
over them. Eighty settlers perished of hunger and disease 
during Governor Endicott 's first winter among them, and when 
Winthrop, Saltonstall, Dudley and Johnson brought over a 
thousand people in seventeen ships in the year of 1629, they 
passed by afflicted Salem and made their settlements at Boston, 
Charlestown and Watertown. 

"The homes, labors and successes of the first colonists of 
Salem would be unworthy of our attention were they associated 
with the lives of ordinary settlers in a new country. But small 
though the beginnings were these men were beginning to store up 
and to train the energy which was afterward to expand with 
tremendous force in the opening of the whole world to commerce 
and civilization, and in the establishment of the best things in 
American life."* They were the picked men of England, 
yoemanry for the most part, seeking to better their condition, 
interested in the great problems of religion and government. 
Dwelling along the harbor front, or on the banks of small rivers 
near at hand, they at once busied themselves cutting down 
trees and hewing planks to fashion pinnaces and shallops for 
traversing these waterways. Fish was a staple diet and the 
chief commodity of trade, and often averted famine while the 
scanty crops were being wrested from the first clearings. Thus 
these early sixteenth century men of Salem were more at home 
upon the water than upon the less friendly land, and it was 
inevitable that they should build larger craft for coastwise 
voyaging as fast as other settlements sprang into being to the 
north and south of them. 

No more than ten years after the arrival of John Endicott, 



* History of Essex County 

19 



The Ships and Sailors oj Old Salem 

shipbuilding was a thriving industry of Salem, and her seamen 
had begun to talk of sending their ventures as far away as the 
West Indies. In 1640 the West Indiaman Desire brought 
home cotton, tobacco and negroes from the Bahamas and salt 
from Tortugas. This ship Desire was a credit to her builders, 
for after opening the trade with the West Indies she made a 
passage to England in the amazingly brief time of twenty-three 
days, which would have been considered rapid sailing for a 
packet ship two hundred years later. In 1664 a local historian 
was able to record that " in this town are some very rich mer- 
chants." These merchants, most of them shipmasters as well, 
were destined to build up for their seaport a peculiar fame by 
reason of their genius for discovering new markets for their 
trading ventures and staking their lives and fortunes on the 
chance of finding rich cargoes where no other American ships 
had dreamed of venturing. 



20 



CHAPTER II 

PHILIP ENGLISH AND HIS ERA 
(1680—1750) 

IN the decade from 1685 to 1695 the infant commerce of 
Salem was fighting for its life. This period was called 
"the dark time when ye merchants looked for ye vessells 
with fear and trembling." Besides the common dangers of the 
sea, they had to contend with savage Indians who attacked the 
fishing fleet, with the heavy restrictions imposed by the Royal 
Acts of Trade, with the witchcraft delusion which turned every 
man's hand against his neighbor, and with French privateers 
which so ravaged the ventures of the Salem traders to the West 
Indies that the shipping annals of the time are thickly strewn 
with such incidents as these: 

(1690) — "The ketch Fellowship, Captain Robert Glanville, 
via the Vineyard for Berwick on the Tweed, was taken by two 
French privateers and carried to Dunkirk." 

(1695) — "The ship Essex of Salem, Captain John Beal, from 
Bilboa in Spain, had a battle at sea and loses John Samson, 
boatswain. This man and Thomas Roads, the gunner, had 
previously contracted that whoever of the two survived the 
other he should have all the property of the deceased." 

Soon after this the tables were turned by the Salem Packet 
which captured a French ship off the Banks of Newfoundland. 
In the same year the ketch Exchange, Captain Thomas Mars- 
ton, was taken by a French ship off Block Island. She was 
ransomed for two hundred and fifty pounds and brought into 

21 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Salem. "The son of the owner was carried to Placentia as a 
hostage for the payment of the ransom." 

The ancient records of the First Church of Salem contain 
this quaint entry under date of July 25, 1677: 

" The Lord having given a Comission to the Indians to take 
no less than 13 of the Fishing Ketches of Salem and Captivate 
the men (though divers of them cleared themselves and came 
home) it struck a great consternation into all the people here. 
The Pastor moved on the Lord's Day, and the whole people 
readily consented, to keep the Lecture Day following as a fast 
day; which was accordingly done and the work carried on by 
the Pastor, Mr. Hale, Mr. Chevers, and Mr. Gerrish, the 
higher ministers helping in prayer. The Lord was pleased 
to send in some of the Ketches on the Fast day which was 
looked on as a gracious smile of Providence. Also there had 
been 19 wounded men sent into Salem a little while before; 
also, a ketch with 40 men sent out from Salem as a man-of- 
war to recover the rest of the Ketches. The Lord give them 
Good Success." 

In those very early and troublous times the Barbary pirates 
or Corsairs had begun to vex the New England skippers who 
boldly crossed the Atlantic in vessels that were much smaller 
than a modern canal boat or brick barge. These "Sallee 
rovers" hovered from the Mediterranean to the chops of the 
English Channel. Many a luckless seaman of Salem was held 
prisoner in the cities of Algiers while his friends at home endeav- 
ored to gather funds for his ransom. It was stated in 1661 
that "for a long time previous the commerce of Massachusetts 
was much annoyed by Barbary Corsairs and that many of its 
seamen were held in bondage. One Captain Cakebrcad or 
Breadcake had two guns to cruise in search of Turkish pirates." 
In 1700 Benjamin Alford of Boston and William Bowditch of 
Salem related that "their friend Robert Carver of the latter 



Philip English and His Era 



port was taken nine years before, a captive into Sally; that 
contributions had been made for his redemption; that the 
money was in the hands of a person here; that if they had the 
disposal of it, they could release Carver." 

The end of the seventeenth century found the wilderness 
settlement of Salem rapidly expanding into a seaport whose 
commercial interests were faring to distant oceans. The town 
had grown along the water's edge beside which its merchants 
were beginning to build their spacious and gabled mansions. 
Their countinghouses overlooked the harbor, and their spy- 
glasses were alert to sweep the distant sea line for the home- 
coming of their ventures to Virginia, the West Indies and Europe 
Their vessels were forty and sixty tons burden, mere cockle- 
shells for deep-water voyaging, but they risked storm and 
capture while they pushed farther and farther away from Salem 
as the prospect of profitable trade lured them on. 

The sailmaker, the rigger, the ship chandler, and the ship- 
wright had begun to populate the harbor front, and among them 
swarmed the rough and headlong seamen from Heaven knew 
where, who shocked the godly Puritans of the older regime. 
Jack ashore was a bull in a china shop then as now, and history 
has recorded the lamentable but deserved fate of "one Henry 
Bull and companions in a vessel in our harbor who derided 
the Church of Christ and were afterward cast away among 
savage Indians by whom they were slain." 

Now there came into prominence the first of a long line of 
illustrious shipping merchants of Salem, Philip English, who 
makes a commanding figure in the seafaring history of his time. 
A native of the Isle of Jersey, he came to Salem before 1670. 
He made voyages in his own vessels, commanded the ketch* 

*The ketch of the eighteenth century was two-masted with square sails on 
her foremast, and a fore-and-aft sail on the mainmast, which was shorter than 
the foremast. The schooner rig was not used until 1720 and is said to have 
been originated by Captain Andrew Robinson of Gloucester. 

23 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Speedivell in 1676, and ten years later had so swiftly advanced 
his fortunes that he built him a mansion house on Essex Street, 
a solid, square-sided structure with many projecting porches 
and with upper stories overhanging the street. It stood for 
a hundred and fifty years, long known as "English's Great 
House," and linked the nineteenth century with the very early 
chapters of American history. In 1692, Philip English was 
perhaps the richest man of the New England Colonies, owning 
twenty-one vessels which traded with Bilboa, Barbados, St. 
Christopher's, the Isle of Jersey and the ports of France. He 
owned a wharf and warehouses, and fourteen buildings in the 
town. 

One of his bills of lading, dated 1707, shows the pious imprint 
of his generation and the kind of commerce in which he was 
engaged. It reads in part: 

" Shipped by the Grace of God, in good order and well con- 
ditioned, by Sam '11 Browne, Phillip English, Capt. Wm. Bow- 
ditch, Wm. Pickering, and Sam '11 Wakefield, in and upon the 
Good sloop called the Mayflower whereof is master under God 
for this present voyage Jno. Swasey, and now riding at anchor 
in the harbor of Salem, and by God's Grace bound for Virginia 
or Merriland. To say, twenty hogshats of Salt. ... In 
witness whereof the Master or Purser of the said Sloop has 
affirmed to Two Bills of Lading . . . and so God send the 
Good Sloop to her desired port in Safety. Amen." 

Another merchant of Philip English's time wrote in 1700 of 
the foreign commerce of Salem: 

"Dry Merchantable codfish for the Markets of Spain and 
Portugal and the Straits. Refuse fish, lumber, horses and 
provisions for the West Indies. Returns made directly hence 
to England are sugar, molasses, cotton, wool and logwood for 
which we depend on the West Indies. Our own produce, a 
considerable quantity of whale and fish oil, whalebone, furs, 

24 







<0 -3 



Philip English and His Era 



deer, elk and bear skins are annually sent to England. We 
have much Shipping here and freights are low." 

To Virginia the clumsy, little sloops and ketches of Philip 
English carried " Molasses, Rum, Salt, Cider, Mackerel, Wooden 
Bowls, Platters, Pails, Kegs, Muscavado Sugar, and Codfish 
and brought back to Salem Wheat, Pork, Tobacco, Furs, Hides, 
old Pewter, Old Iron, Brass, Copper, Indian Corn and English 
Goods." The craft which crossed the Atlantic and made the 
West Indies in safety to pile up wealth for Philip English were 
no larger than those sloops and schooners which ply up and 
down the Hudson River to-day. Their masters made their 
way without sextant or "Practical Navigator," and as an old 
writer has described in a somewhat exaggerated vein: 

" Their skippers kept their reckoning with chalk on a shingle, 
which they stowed away in the binnacle; and by way of observa- 
tion they held up a hand to the sun. Wlien they got him over 
four fingers they knew they were straight for Hole-in-the-Wall; 
three fingers gave them their course to the Double-headed 
Shop Key and two carried them down to Barbados." 

The witchcraft frenzy invaded even the stately home of Philip 
English, the greatest shipowner of early Salem. His wife, a 
proud and aristocratic lady, was "cried against," examined and 
committed to prison in Salem. It is said that she was con- 
sidered haughty and overbearing in her manner toward the 
poor, and that her husband's staunch adherence to the Church 
of England had something to do with her plight. At any rate, 
Mary English was arrested in her bedchamber and refused to 
rise, wherefore "guards were placed around the house and in 
the morning she attended the devotions of her family, kissed 
her children with great composure, proposed her plan for their 
education, took leave of them and then told the officer she was 
ready to die." Alas, poor woman, she had reason to be "per- 
suaded that accusation was equal to condemnation." She lay 

25 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

in prison six weeks where "her firmness was memorable. But 
being visited by a fond husband, her husband was also accused 
and confined in prison." The intercession of friends and the 
plea that the prison was overcrowded caused their removal to 
Arnold's jail in Boston until the time of trial. It brings to 
mind certain episodes of the French Reign of Terror to learn 
that they were taken to Boston on the same day with Giles 
Corey, George Jacobs, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, and Bridget 
Bishop, all of whom perished except Philip and Mary English. 
Both would have been executed had they not escaped death 
by flight from the Boston jail and seeking refuge in New York. 

In his diary, under date of May 21, 1793, Rev. William 
Bentley, of Salem, pastor of the East Church from 1783 to 1819, 
wrote of the witchcraft persecution of this notable shipping 
merchant and his wife: 

"May 21st, 1793. Substance of Madam Susannah Har- 
thome's account of her grandfather English, etc. Mr. English 
was a Jersey man, came young to America and lived with Mr. 
W. Hollingsworth, whose only child he married. He owned 
above twenty sail of vessels. His wife had the best education 
of her times. Wrote with great ease, and has left a specimen 
of her needlework in her infancy or youth. She had already 
owned her Covenant and was baptised with her children and 
now intended to be received at the Communion on the next 
Lord's Day. On Saturday night she was cried out upon. The 
Officers, High Sheriff, and Deputy with attendants came at 
eleven at night. When the servant came up Mr. English 
imagined it was upon business, not having had the least notice 
of the suspicions respecting his wife. They were to bed together 
in the western chamber of their new house raised in 1690, and 
had a large family of servants. 

" The Officers came in soon after the servant who so alarmed 
Mr. English that with diflSculty he found his cloathes which 

26 



Philip English and His Era 



he could not put on without help. The Officers came into the 
chamber, following the servant, and opening the curtains read 
the Mittimus. She was then ordered to rise but absolutely 
refused. Her husband continued walking the chamber all 
night, but the Officers contented themselves with a guard upon 
the House till morning. In the morning they required of her 
to rise, but she refused to rise before her usual hour. After 
breakfast with her husband and children, and seeing all the 
servants, of whom there were twenty in the House, she con- 
cluded to go with the officers and she was conducted to the Cat 
and Wheel, a public house east of the present Centre Meeting 
House on the opposite side of the way. Six weeks she was 
confined in the front chamber, in which she received the visits 
of her husband three times a day and as the floor was single she 
kept a journal of the examinations held below which she con- 
stantly sent to Boston. 

" After six weeks her husband was accused, and their friends 
obtained that they should be sent on to Boston till their Trial 
should come on. In Arnold's custody they had bail and liberty 
of the town, only lodging in the Gaol. The Rev. Moody and 
Williard of Boston visited them and invited them to the public 
worship on the day before they were to return to Salem for 
Trial. Their text was that they that are persecuted in one 
city, let them flee to another. After Meeting the Ministers 
visited them at the Gaol, and asked them whether they took 
notice of the discourse, and told them their danger and urged 
them to escape since so many had suffered. Mr. English 
replied, 'God will not permit them to touch me.' Mrs. English 
said: 'Do you not think the sufferers innocent?' He (Moody) 
said 'Yes.' She then added, 'Why may we not suffer also?' The 
Ministers then told him if he would not carry his wife away 
they would. 

" The gentlemen of the town took care to provide at midnight 

27 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a conveyance, encouraged by the Governor, Gaoler, etc., and 
Mr. and Mrs. English with their eldest child and daughter, were 
conveyed away, and the Governor gave letters to Governor 
Fletcher of New York who came out and received them, accom- 
panied by twenty private gentlemen, and carried them to his 
house. 

"They remained twelve months in the city. While there 
they heard of the wants of the poor in Salem and sent a vessel 
of corn for their relief, a bushel for each child. Great advan- 
tages were proposed to detain them at New York, but the 
attachment of the wife to Salem was not lost by all her sufferings, 
and she urged a return. They were received with joy upon 
their return and the Town had a thanksgiving on the occasion. 
Noyes, the prosecutor, dined with him on that day in his own 
house." 

That a man of such solid station should have so narrowly 
escaped death in the witchcraft fury indicates that no class 
was spared. While his sturdy seamen were fiddling and drink- 
ing in the taverns of the Salem water-front, or making sail to the 
roaring chorus of old-time chanties, their employer, a prince of 
commerce for his time, was dreading a miserable death for him- 
self and that high-spirited dame, his wife, on Gallows Hill, at 
the hands of the stern-faced young sheriff of Salem. 

Philip English returned to Salem after the frenzy had passed 
and rounded out a shipping career of fifty years, living until 
1736, His instructions to one of his captains may help to pic- 
ture the American commerce of two centuries ago. In 1722 he 
wrote to "Mr. John Tauzel": 

"Sir, you being appointed Master of my sloop Sarah, now 
Riding in ye Harbor of Salem, and Ready to Saile, my Order is 
to you that you take ye first opportunity of wind and Weather to 
Saile and make ye best of yr. way for Barbadoes or Leew'd 

28 



Philip English and His Era 



Island, and there Enter and Clear yr vessel and Deliver yr 
Cargo according to Orders and Bill of Lading and Make Saile 
of my twelve Hogsh'd of fish to my best advantage, and make 
Returne in yr Vessel or any other for Salem in such Goods as 
you shall see best, and if you see Cause to take a freight to any 
port or hire her I lieve it with your Best Conduct, Managem't 
or Care for my best advantage. So please God to give you a 
prosperous voyage, I remain yr Friend and Owner. 

"Philip English." 

England had become already jealous of the flourishing 
maritime commerce of the Colonies and was devising one re- 
strictive Act of Parliament after another to hamper what was 
viewed as a dangerous rivalry. In 1668, Sir Joshua Child, 
once chairman of the East India Company, delivered himself 
of this choleric and short-sighted opinion: 

"Of all the American plantations His Majesty has none so 
apt for the building of ships as New England, nor none com- 
parably so qualified for the breeding of seamen, not only by 
reason of the natural industry of the people, but principally by 
reason of their cod and mackerel fisheries, and in my opinion 
there is nothing more prejudicial and in prospect more danger- 
ous to any mother kingdom than the increase of shipping in her 
colonies, plantations or provinces." 

This selfish view-point sought not only to prevent American 
shipowners from conducting a direct trade with Europe but 
tried also to cripple the prosperous commerce between the 
Colonies and the West Indies. The narrow-minded politicians 
who sacrificed both the Colonies and the Mother country could 
not kill American shipping even by the most ingenious restric- 
tive acts, and the hardy merchants of New England violated 
or evaded these unjust edicts after the manner indicated in 
the following letter of instructions given to Captain Richard 

29 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Derby of Salem, for a voyage to the West Indies as master and 
part owner of the schooner Volante in 1741 : 

"If you should go among the French endeavour to get salt 
at St. Martins, but if you should fall so low as Statia, and any 
Frenchman should make you a good Offer with good security, 
or by making your Vessel a Dutch bottom, or by any other 
means practicable in order to your getting among ye French- 
men, embrace it. Among whom if you should ever arrive, be 
sure to give strict orders amongst your men not to sell the least 
trifle unto them on any terms, lest they should make your 
Vessel liable to a seizure. Also secure a permit so as for you to 
trade there next voyage, which you may undoubtedly do through 
your factor or by a little greasing some others. Also make a 
proper Protest at any port you stop at." 

This means that if needs be, Captain Derby is to procure a 
Dutch registry and make the Volante a Dutch vessel for the 
time being, and thus not subject to the British Navigation 
Acts. It was easy to buy such registries for temporary use and 
to masquerade under English, French, Spanish or Dutch colors, 
if a " little greasing " was applied to the customs oflScers in the 
West Indies. 

On the margin of Captain Derby's sailing orders is scrawled 
the following memorandum : 

"Capt. Derby: If you trade at Barbadoes buy me a negroe 
boy about siventeen years old, which if you do, advise Mr. 
Clarke of yt so he may not send one. 

(Signed) Benj. Gerrish, Jr." 

Such voyages as these were risky ventures for the eighteenth 
century insurance companies, whose courage is to be admired 
for daring to underwrite these vessels at all. For a voyage of 
the Lydia from Salem to Madeira in 1761, the premium rate 
was 11 per cent., and in the following year 14 per cent, was 

30 



Philip English and His Era 



demanded for a voyage to Jamaica. The Three Sisters, bound 
to Santo Domingo, was compelled to pay 23 per cent, premium, 
and 14 per cent, for the return voyage. The lowest rate re- 
corded for this era was 8 per cent, on the schooner Friendship 
of Salem to Quebec in 1760. For a Madeira voyage from Salem 
to-day the insurance rate would be If per cent, as compared with 
11 per cent, then; to Jamaica 1| per cent, instead of 14 per 
cent, in the days when the underwriters had to risk confiscation, 
violation of the British Navigation Acts, and capture by 
privateers, or pirates, in addition to the usual dangers of the 
deep. 

Among the biographical sketches in the records of the Salem 
Marine Society is that of Captain Michael Driver. It is a 
concise yet crowded narrative and may serve to show why insur- 
ance rates were high. "In the year 1759, he commanded the 
schooner Three Brothers, bound to the West Indies," runs the 
account. " He was taken by a privateer under English colors, 
called the King of Russia, commanded by Captain James 
Inclicto, of nine guns, and sent into Antigua. Her cargo was 
value at £550. Finding no redress he came home. He sailed 
again in the schooner Betsey for Guadaloupe; while on his 
passage was taken by a French frigate and sent into above port. 
He ransomed the vessel for four thousand livres and left three 
hostages and sailed for home November, 1761, and took com- 
mand of schooner Mary, under a flag of truce, to go and pay the 
ransom and bring home the hostages. 

" He was again captured, contrary to the laws of nations, by 
the English privateer Revenge, James McDonald, master, sent 
to New Providence, Bahama. He made protest before the 
authorities and was set at liberty with vessel and cargo. He 
pursued his voyage to Cape Francois, redeemed the hostages, 
and Sept. 6, 1762, was ready to return, but Monsieur Blanch, 
commanding a French frigate, seized the vessel, took out 

31 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

hostages and crew and put them on board the frigate bound to 
St. Jago, Cuba. He was detained till December, and vessel 
returned. Worn out and foodless he was obliged to go to 
Jamaica for repairs. On his arrival home his case was repre- 
sented to the Colonial Government and transmitted to Gov- 
ernor Shirley at New Providence, but no redress was made." 

Many of these small vessels with crews of four to six men 
were lost by shipwreck and now and then one can read between 
the lines of some scanty chronicle of disaster astonishing ro- 
mances of maritime suffering and adventure. For example in 
1677, " a vessel arrived at Salem which took Captain Ephriam 
How of New Haven, the survivor of his crew, from a desolate 
island where eight months he suffered exceedingly from cold 
and hunger." 

In the seventeenth century Cape Cod was as remote as and 
even more inaccessible than Europe. A bark of thirty tons 
burden, Anthony Dike master, was wrecked near the end of 
the Cape and three of the crew were frozen to death. The two 
survivors "got some fire and lived there by such food as they 
had saved for seven weeks until an Indian found them. Dike 
was of the number who perished." 

Robinson Crusoe could have mastered difficulties no more 
courageously than the seamen of the ketch Providence, wrecked 
on a voyage to the West Indies. " Six of her crew were drowned, 
but the Master, mate and a sailor, who was badly wounded, 
reached an island half a mile off where they found another of 
the company. They remained there eight days, living on salt 
fish and cakes made from a barrel of flour washed ashore. 
They found a piece of touch wood after four days which the 
mate had in his chest and a piece of flint with which, having a 
small knife they struck a fire. They framed a boat with a 
tarred mainsail and some hoops and then fastened pieces of 
board to them. With a boat so constructed they sailed ten 

32 



Philip English and His Era 



leagues to Anquila and St. Martins where they were kindly 
received." 

There was also Captain Jones of the brig Adventure which 
foundered at sea while coming home from Trinidad. All 
hands were lost except the skipper, who got astride a wooden or 
"Quaker" gun which had broken adrift from the harmless 
battery with which he had hoped to intimidate pirates. " He 
fought off the sharks with his feet" and clung to his buoyant 
ordnance until he was picked up and carried into Havana. 

In 1759 young Samuel Gardner of Salem, just graduated 
from Harvard College, made a voyage to Gibraltar with Captain 
Richard Derby. The lad's diary* contains some interesting 
references to the warlike hazards of a routine trading voyage, 
besides revealing, in an attractive way, the ingenuous nature of 
this nineteen-year-old youngster of the eighteenth century. His 
daily entries read in part: 

1759. Oct. 19— Sailed from Salem. Very sick. 

20 — I prodigious sick, no comfort at all. 

21 — I remain very sick, the first Sabbath I have spent from 
Church this long time. Little Sleep this Night. 

24 — A little better contented, but a Sailor's life is a poor life. 

31 — Fair pleasant weather, if it was always so, a sea life would 
be tolerable. 

. . . Nov. 11 — This makes the fourth Sunday I have 
been out. Read Dr. Beveridge's "Serious Thoughts." 

12 — Saw a sail standing to S.W. I am quartered at the 
aftermost gun and its opposite with Captain Clifford. We 
fired a shot at her and she hoisted Dutch colors. 

13 — I have entertained myself with a Romance, viz., "The 
History of the Parish Girl." 

14 — Quite pleasant. Here we may behold the Works of God 
in the Mighty Deep. Happy he who beholds aright. 
* Historical Collections of the Essex Institute. 

33 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

15 — Between 2 and 3 this morning we saw two sail which 
chased us, the ship fired 3 shots at us which we returned. They 
came up with us by reason of a breeze which she took before 
we did. She proved to be the ship Cornwall from Bristol. 

21 — Bishop Beveridge employed my time. 

23 — ^We now begin to approach to land. May we have a 
good sight of it. At eight o'clock two Teriffa (Barbary) boats 
came out after us, they fired at us which we returned as merrily. 
They were glad to get away as well as they could. We stood 
after one, but it is almost impossible to come up with the 
piratical dogs. 

28 — Gibralter — Went on shore. Saw the soldiers in the 
Garrison exercise. They had a cruel fellow for an officer for 
he whipt them barbarously. . . . After dinner we went 
out and saw the poor soldiers lickt again. 

. . . Dec. 10 — Benj. Moses, a Jew, was on board. I had 
some discourse with him about his religion . . . Poor 
creature, he errs greatly. I endeavored to set him right, but 
he said for a conclusion that his Father and Grandfather were 
Jews and if they were gone to Hell he would go there, too, by 
choice, which I exposed as a great piece of Folly and Stupidity. 
In the morning we heard a firing and looked out in the Gut 
and there was a snow attacked by 3 of the piratical Tereffa 
boats. Two cutters in the Government service soon got under 
sail, 3 men-of-war that lay in the Roads manned their barges 
and sent them out as did a Privateer. We could now perceive 
her (the snow) to have struck, but they soon retook her. She 
had only four swivels and 6 or 8 men . . . They got some 
prisoners (of the pirates) but how many I cannot learn, which 
it is to be hoped will meet with their just reward which I think 
would be nothing short of hanging. . , . Just at dusk 
came on board of us two Gentlemen, one of which is an Officer 
on board a man-of-war, the other belongs to the Granada in 

34 



Philip English and His Era 



the King's Service. The former (our people say) was in the 
skirmish in some of the barges. He could have given us a 
relation of it, but we, not knowing of it, prevented what would 
have been very agreeable to me. . . . It is now between 
9 and 10 o'clock at night which is the latest I have set up since 
I left Salem." 

This Samuel Gardner was a typical Salem boy of his time, 
well brought up, sent to college, and eager to go to sea and 
experience adventures such as his elders had described. Of a 
kindred spirit in the very human quality of the documents he 
left for us was Francis Boardman, a seaman, who rose to a con- 
siderable position as a Salem merchant. His ancient log books 
contain between their battered and discolored canvas covers 
the records of his voyages between 1767 and 1774. Among 
the earliest are the logs of the ship Vaughan in which Francis 
Boardman sailed as mate. He kept the log and having a bent 
for scribbling on whatever blank paper his quill could find, he 
filled the fly-leaves of these sea journals with more interesting 
material than the routine entries of wind, weather and ship's 
daily business. Scrawled on one ragged leaf in what appears 
to be the preliminary draft of a letter : 

" Dear Polly — thes lines comes with My Love to you. Hop- 
ing thes will find you in as good Health as they Leave me at 
this Time, Blessed be God for so Great a Massey (mercy)." 

Young Francis Boardman was equipped with epistolary 
ammunition for all weathers and conditions, it would seem, 
for in another log of a hundred and fifty years ago, he carefully 
wrote on a leaf opposite his personal expense account : 
" Madam : 

"Your Late Behavour towards me, you are sensible cannot 
have escaped my Ear. I must own you was once the person of 
whom I could Not have formed such an Opinion. For my 
part, at present I freely forgive you and only blame myself for 

35 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

putting so much confidence in a person so undeserving. I have 
now conquered my pashun so much (though I must confess at 
first it was with great difficulty), that I never think of you, nor 
I believe never shall without despising the Name of a person 
who dared to use me in so ungrateful a manner. I shall now 
conclude myself, though badley used, not your Enemy." 

It may be fairly suspected that Francis Boardman owned a 
copy of some early "Complete Letter Writer," for on another 
page he begins but does not finish. " A Letter from One Sister 
to Another to Enquire of Health." Also he takes pains several 
times to draft these dutiful but far from newsy lines : 

"Honored Father and Mother — Thes lines comes with my 
Deuty to you. Hoping They will find you in as good Health 
as they Leave me at this Time. Blessed be God for so Great 
a Massey — Honored Father and Mother." 

In a log labeled " From London Toward Cadiz, Spain, in the 
good ship Vaughan, Benj. Davis, Master, 1767," Francis Board- 
man became mightily busy with his quill and the season being 
spring, he began to scrawl poetry between the leaves which 
were covered with such dry entries as "Modt. Gales and fair 
weather. Set the jibb. Bent topmast stay sail." One of 
these pages of verse begins in this fashion : 

"One Morning, one Morning in May,. 
The fields were adorning with Costlay Array. 
I Chanced for To hear as I walked By a Grove 
A Shepyard Laymenting for the Loss of his Love." 

But the most moving and ambitious relic of the poetic taste 
of this long vanished Yankee seaman is a ballad preserved in the 
same log of the Vaughan. Its spelling is as filled with fresh sur- 
prises as its sentiment is profoundly tragic. It runs as follows: 

1 "In Gosport* of Late there a Damsil Did Dwell, 
for Wit and for Beuty Did she maney Exsel. 

* Gosport Navy Yard, England. 

36 



r 



-J-.T^ C\ \Vcr>^ by ilic GrJC? of COP in gooil O.J r 31' ■ " 




(wlicrcof \, MjH 

' for 7;,-;f.,.o, ,j~~^— '^ 







ifcjBcIAnra{;cjcciiftf.m-(1. In wi-ncfs^-e'Cr-f !hf M.()erorriirft» 
iffVtfff -t.«t,irl, iffirmtd (0 /i"^ •' f ill- <-f I,.K!(ng,all t>f it Is 
1 I TntL tie one ol wl ich ««>t) l«ili Keiiig acciial BiheO, the *lier 
n (lam! voi J • And (S C„kI (:nJ tLc gVx,dV ,V,.^ij*" j] :)||> her d«- ^ 
m faficy, Abiw. Daccd in /,//, ,« , .* ''^/i ^ ^t^v/// f/ C //-/Z 



A bill of lading uf the tunc of I'lniij) En-li->li, dated JWG 






tflVi^. ,.vu 



,./; ii^'-ZJi ,3/ .f 



.i,.Al t/ia>.(c.„) on„ •Ktt^. /,!!• ,'"<' '. "' ,v'" ' ■ •' ^ ''* :' ■ 

, .■ ■ .1 !HiSiffi»ui ■''' /ft'' . I. '■ '/ 

A.f miiriff. Jilt nZ/uf^ hit I ■ .■ ! ' ■' 









The lu<^ of a Salem wlialer. showiiij^ how he rect)itle(l the nnniher of 
whales he took 



Philip English and His Era 



2 A Young man he Corted hir to be his Dear 
And By his Trade was a Ship Carpentir. 

3 he ses "My Dear Molly if you will agrea 
And Will then Conseent for to Marey me 

4 Your Love it will Eas me of Sorro and Care 
If you will But Marey a ship Carpentir." 

5 With blushes mor Charming then Roses in June, 

She ans'red (") Sweet William for to Wed I am to young. 

6 Young Men thay are fickle and so Very Vain, 
If a Maid she is Kind thay will quickly Disdane. 

7 the Most Beutyfullyst Woman that ever was Born, 
When a man has insnared hir, hir Beuty he scorns. (") 

8 (He) (") O, My Dear Molly, what Makes you Say so? 
Thi Beuty is the Haven to wich I will go. 

9 If you Will consent for the Church for to Stear 
there I will Cast anchor and stay with my Dear. 

10 I ne're Shall be Cloyedd with the Charms of thy Love, 
this Love is as True as the tru Turtle Dove. 

11 All that I do Crave is to marey my Dear 

And arter we are maried no Dangers we will fear. (") 

12 (She) "The Life of a Virgen, Sweet William, I Prize 
for marrying Brings Trouble and sorro Like-wise. (") 

13 But all was in Vane tho His Sute she did Denie, 
yet he did Purswade hir for Love to Comeply. 

14 And by his Cunneng hir Hart Did Betray 
and with Too lude Desire he led hir Astray. 

15 This Past on a while and at Length you will hear, 
the King wanted Sailors and to Sea he must Stear. 

16 This Greved the fare Damsil allmost to the Hart 
To think of Hir True Love so soon she must Part. 

17 She ses (") my Dear Will as you go to sea 
Remember the Vows that you made unto me. (") 

18 With the Kindest Expresens he to hir Did Say 
(") I will marey my Molly air I go away. 

19 That means tomorrow to me you will Come. 

then we will be maried and our Love Carried on. (") 

20 With the Kindest Embraces they Parted that Nite 
She went for to meet him next Morning by Lite. 

21 he ses (") my Dear Charmer, you must go with me 
Before we are married a friend for to see. ( ") 

22 he Led hir thru Groves and Valleys so deep 
That this fare Damsil Began for to Weep. 

37 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

23 She ses (") My Dear William, you Lead me Astray 
on Purpos my innocent Life to be BeTray. (") 

24 (He) (") Those are true Words and none can you save, (") 
for all this hole Nite I have Been digging your grave." 

25 A Spade Standing By and a Grave thare she See, 
(She) (") O, Must this Grave Be a Bride Bed to Me? (") 

In 1774; we find Francis Boardman as captain of the sloop 
Adventure, evidently making his first voyage as master. He 
was bound for the West Indies, and while off the port of St. 
Pierre in Martinique he penned these gloomy remarks in his log : 

" This Morning I Drempt that 2 of my upper teeth and one 
Lower Dropt out and another Next the Lower one wore away 
as thin as a wafer and Sundry other fritful Dreams. What will 
be the Event of it I can't tell." 

Other superstitions seem to have vexed his mind, for in the 
same log he wrote as follows : 

"this Blot I found the 17th. I can't tell but Something Very 
bad is going to Hapen to me this Voyage. I am afeard but 
God onley Noes What may hapen on board the Sloop Adven- 
ture — the first Voyage of being Master." 

Sailing " From Guardalopa Toward Boston," Captain Francis 
Boardman made this final entry in his log: 

"The End of this Voyage for wich I am Very thankfuU on 
Acct. of a Grate Deal of Truble by a bad mate, his name is 
William Robson of Salem, he was Drunk most Part of the 
Voyage." 



CHAPTER III 

SOME EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIRATES 

(1670-1725) 

THE pirates of the Spanish Main and the southern coasts 
of this country have enjoyed ahnost a monopoly of 
popular interest in fact and fiction. As early as 1632, 
however, the New England coast was plagued by pirates and 
the doughty merchant seamen of Salem and other ports were 
sallying forth to fight them for a hundred years on end. 

In 1670 the General Court published in Boston, " by beat of 
drum," a proclamation against a ship at the Isle of Shoals 
suspected of being a pirate, and three years later another oflBcial 
broadside was hurled against "piracy and mutiny." The 
report of an expedition sent out from Boston in 1689, in the 
sloop Mary, against notorious pirates named Thomas Hawkins 
and Thomas Pound, has all the dramatic elements and properties 
of a tale of pure adventure. It relates that " being off of Wood's 
Hole, we were informed there was a Pirate at Tarpolin Cove, 
and soon after we espyed a Sloop on head of us which we sup- 
posed to be the Sloop wherein sd. Pound and his Company were. 
We made what Sayle we could and soon came near up with 
her, spread our King's Jack and fired a shot athwart her fore- 
foot, upon which a red filag was put out on the head of the sd. 
Sloop's mast. Our Capn. ordered another shot to be fired 
athwart her forefoot, but they not striking, we came up with 
them. Our Capn. commanded us to fire at them which we 
accordingly did and called to them to strike to the King of 
England. 

39 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" Pound, standing on the Quarter deck with his naked Sword 
flourishing in his hand, said; 'Come on Board you Doggs, I will 
strike you presently,' or words to that purpose, his men standing 
by him upon the deck with guns in their hands, and he taking 
up his Gun, they discharged a Volley at us and we at them 
again, and so continued firing one at the other for some space 
of time. 

"In which engagement our Capn. Samuel Pease was wounded 
in the Arme, in the side and in the thigh; but at length bringing 
them under our power, wee made Sayle towards Roade Island 
and on Saturday the fifth of sd. October gut our wounded men 
on shore and procured Surgeons to dress them. Our said 
Captaine lost much blood by his wounds and was brought very 
low, but on friday after, being the eleventh day of the said 
October, being brought on board the vessell intending to come 
away to Boston, was taken with bleeding afresh, so that we 
were forced to carry him on Shore again to Road Island, and 
was followed with bleeding at his Wounds, and fell into fitts, 
but remained alive until Saturday morning the twelfth of 
Octbr. aforesaid when he departed this Life." 

This admirably brief narrative shows that Thomas Pounds, 
strutting his quarter deck under his red "fflagg" and flourishing 
his naked sword and crying "Come on, you doggs," was a 
proper figure of a seventeenth century pirate, and that poor 
Captain Pease of the sloop Mary was a gallant seaman who 
won his victory after being wounded unto death. Pirates 
received short shift and this crew was probably hanged in 
Boston as were scores of their fellows in that era. 

Puritan wives and sweethearts waited months and years for 
missing ships which never again dropped anchor in the land- 
locked harbor of Salem, and perhaps if any tidings ever came 
it was no more than this: 

"May 21 (1697)— The ketch Margaret of Salem, Captain 

40 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

Peter Henderson was chased ashore near Funshal, Madeira, 
by pirates and lost. Of what became of the officers and crew 
the account says nothing." 

In July of 1703, the brigantine Charles, Capt. Daniel Plow- 
man, was fitted out at Boston as a privateer to cruise against 
the French and Spanish with whom Great Britain was at war. 
When the vessel had been a few days at sea, Captain Plowman 
was taken very ill. Thereupon the crew locked him in the 
cabin and left him to die while they conspired to run off with 
the brigantine and turn pirates. The luckless master con- 
veniently died, his body was tossed overboard and one John 
Quelch assumed the command. The crew seem to have 
agreed that he was the man for their purpose and they unan- 
imously invited him to " sail on a private cruise to the coast of 
Brazil." In those waters they plundered several Portuguese 
ships, and having collected sufficient booty or becoming home- 
sick, they determined to seek their native land. With striking 
boldness Quelch navigated the brigantine back to Marblehead 
and primed his men with a story of the voyage which should 
cover up their career as pirates. 

Suspicion was turned against them, however, the vessel was 
searched, and much plunder revealed. The pirates tried to 
escape along shore, but most of them, Quelch included, were 
captured at Gloucester, the Isle of Shoals, and Marblehead. 

One of the old Salem records has preserved the following 
information concerning the fate of these rascals: 

(1704) — "Major Stephen Sewall, Captain John Turner and 
40 volunteers embark in a shallop and Fort Pinnace after Sun 
Set to go in Search of some Pirates who sailed from Gloucester 
in the morning. Major Sewall brought into Salem a Galley, 
Captain Thomas Lowrimore, on board of which he had cap- 
tured some pirates and some of their Gold at the Isle of Shoals 
Major Sewall carries the Pirates to Boston under a strong 

41 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

guard. Captain Quelch and five of his crew are hung. About 
13 of the ship's company remain under sentence of death and 
several more are cleared." 

Tradition records that a Salem poet of that time was moved 
to write of the foregoing episode: 

"Ye pirates who against God's laws did fight, 
Have all been taken which is very right. 
Some of them were old and others young 
And on the flats of Boston they were hung." 

There is a vivacious and entertaining flavor in the following 
chronicle and comment: 

"May 1, 1718, several of the ship HopewelVs crew can testify 
that near Hispaniola they met with pirates who robbed and 
abused their crew and compelled their mate, James Logun of 
Charlestown to go with them, as they had no artist; having 
lost several of their company in an engagement. As to what 
sort of an artist these gentlemen rovers were deficient in, whether 
dancing, swimming or writing master, or a master of the mechan- 
ical arts, we have no authority for stating." 

The ofiicial account of the foregoing misfortune is to be 
found among the notarial records of Essex county and reads as 
follows : 

" Depositions of Richard Manning, John Crowell, and Aaron 
Crowell, all of Salem, and belonging to the crew of Captain 
Thomas Ellis, commander of the ship Hopewell, bound from 
Island of Barbadoes to Saltatuda. Missing of that Island and 
falling to Leeward we shaped our course for some of the Bahama 
Islands in hopes to get salt there, but nigh ye Island of Hispan- 
iola we unhappily met with a pirate, being a sloop of between 
thirty and forty men, one Capt. Charles, commander, his sir- 
name we could not learn. They took us, boarded us and abused 
several of us shamefully, and took what small matters we had, 

42 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

even our very cloathes and particularly beat and abused our 
Mate, whose name was James Logun of Charlestowne, and 
him they forcibly carried away with them and threatened his 
life if he would not go, which they were ye more in earnest for 
insomuch as they had no artist on board, as we understood, 
having a little before that time had an Engagem't. with a ship 
of force which had killed several of them as we were Informed 
by some of them. Ye said James Logun was very unwilling 
to go with them and informed some of us that he knew not 
whether he had best to dye or go with them, these Deponents 
knowing of him to be an Ingenious sober man. To ye truth of 
all we have hereunto sett our hand having fresh Remembrance 
thereof, being but ye fifth day of March last past, when we 
were taken. Salem, May 1, 1718." 

In the following year Captain John Shattuck entered his 
protest at Salem against capture by pirates. He sailed from 
Jamaica for New England and in sight of Long Island (West 
Indies) was captured by a "Pyrat" of 12 guns and 120 men, 
under the command of Captain Charles Vain, who took him to 
Crooked Island (Bahamas), plundered him of various articles, 
stripped the brig, abused some of his men and finally let him 
go. "Coming, however, on a winter coast, his vessel stripped 
of needed sails, he was blown off to the West Indies and did not 
arrive in Salem until the next spring." 

In 1724 two notorious sea rogues, Nutt and Phillip, were 
cruising off Cape Ann, their topsails in sight of Salem harbor 
mouth. They took a sloop commanded by one Andrew Har- 
radine of Salem and thereby caught a Tartar. Harradine and 
his crew rose upon their captors, killed both Nutt and Phillip 
and their oflBcers, put the pirate crew under hatches, and sailed 
the vessel to Boston where the pirates were turned over to the 
authorities to be fitted with hempen kerchiefs. 

43 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

On the first of May, 1725, a Salem brigantine commanded 
by Captain Dove sailed into her home harbor having on board 
one Philip Ashton, a lad from Marblehead who had been given 
up as dead for almost three years. He had been captured by 
pirates, and after escaping from them lived alone for a year 
and more on a desert island off the coast of Honduras. Philip 
Ashton vi^rote a journal of his adventures which was first pub- 
lished many years ago. His story is perhaps the most enter- 
taining narrative of eighteenth century piracy that has come 
down to present times. Little is known of the career of this lad 
of Marblehead before or after his adventures and misfortunes 
in the company of pirates. It is recorded that when he hurried 
to his home from the ship which had fetched him into Salem 
harbor there was great rejoicing. On the following Sunday 
Rev. John Barnard preached a sermon concerning the miracu- 
lous escape of Philip Ashton. His text was taken from the 
third chapter of Daniel, seventeenth verse: "If it be so our 
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery 
furnace, and He will deliver us out of thy hands, O King." 

It is also known that at about the same time that Philip Ash- 
ton was captured by pirates his cousin, Nicholas Merritt, met 
with a like misfortune at sea. He made his escape after several 
months of captivity and returned to his home a year later when 
there was another thanksgiving for a wanderer returned. 

What the early shipmasters of Salem and nearby ports had 
to fear in the eighteenth century may be more clearly com- 
prehended if a part of the journal of Philip Ashton is presented 
as he is said to have written it upon his return home. It begins 
as follows: 

"On Friday, the 15th of June, 1722, after being out some time 
in a schooner with four men and a boy, off Cape Sable, I stood 
in for Port Rossaway, designing to lie there all Sunday. Having 

44 



:x- 



^^ 






,. I r 






A page from Falconer's Marine Dictionary (18th Century) 

Figure 4: a snow, (5) a ketch. (6) a l)rif; or hrigantine, (71 a Inlander, (8) a xebec. (Hi a schooner, (10) a 
galliot, (11) a dogger, (12 anil 18) two gallies. one under sail, the other rowing, d-li a sloop 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

arrived about four in the afternoon, we saw, among other vessels 
which had reached the port before us, a brigantine supposed 
to be inward bound from the West Indies. After remaining 
three or four hours at anchor, a boat from the brigantine came 
alongside, with four hands, who leapt on deck, and suddenly 
drawing out pistols, and brandishing cutlasses, demanded the 
surrender both of ourselves and our vessel. All remonstrance 
was vain; nor indeed, had we known who they were before 
boarding us could we have made any effectual resistance, being 
only five men and a boy, and were thus under the necessity of 
submitting at discretion. We were not single in misfortune, 
as thirteen or fourteen fishing vessels were in like manner 
surprised the same evening. 

" When carried on board the brigantine, I found myself in the 
hands of Ned Low, an infamous pirate, whose vessel had two 
great guns, four swivels, and about forty-two men. I was 
strongly urged to sign the articles of agreement among the 
pirates and to join their number, which I steadily refused and 
suffered much bad usage in consequence. At length being 
conducted, along with five of the prisoners, to the quarterdeck, 
Low came up to us with pistols in his hand, and loudly de- 
manded: 'Are any of you married men.''' 

" This unexpected question, added to the sight of the pistols, 
struck us all speechless; we were alarmed lest there was some 
secret meaning in his words, and that he would proceed to 
extremities, therefore none could reply. In a violent passion 
he cocked a pistol, and clapping it to my head, cried out : ' You 
dog, why don't you answer?' swearing vehemently at the same 
time that he would shoot me through the head. I was suffi- 
ciently terrified by his threats and fierceness, but rather than 
lose my life in so trifling a matter, I ventured to pronounce, as 
loud as I durst speak, that I was not married. Hereupon he 
seemed to be somewhat pacified, and turned away. 

45 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" It appeared that Low was resolved to take no married men 
whatever, which often seemed surprising to me until I had 
been a considerable time with him. But his own wife had died 
lately before he became a pirate; and he had a young child at 
Boston, for whom he entertained such tenderness, on every 
lucid interval from drinking and revelling, that on mentioning 
it, I have seen him sit down and weep plentifully. Thus I con- 
cluded that his reason for taking only single men, was probably 
that they might have no ties, such as wives and children, to 
divert them from his service, and render them desirous of 
returning home. 

"The pirates finding force of no avail in compelling us to 
join them, began to use persuasion instead of it. They tried 
to flatter me into compliance, by setting before me the share I 
should have in their spoils, and the riches which I should 
become master of; and all the time eagerly importuned me to 
drink along with them. But I still continued to resist their 
proposals, whereupon Low, with equal fury as before, threatened 
to shoot me through the head, and though I earnestly entreated 
my release, he and his people wrote my name, and that of my 
companions, in their books. 

" On the 19th of June, the pirates changed the privateer, as 
they called their vessel, and went into a new schooner belonging 
to Marblehead, which they had captured. They then put all 
the prisoners whom they designed sending home on board of 
the brigantine, and sent her to Boston, which induced me to 
make another unsuccessful attempt for liberty; but though I 
fell on my knees to Low, he refused to let me go; thus I saw 
the brigantine depart, with the whole captives, excepting myself 
and seven more. 

"A very short time before she departed, I had nearly effected 
my escape; for a dog belonging to Low being accidentally left 
on shore, he ordered some hands into a boat to bring it off. 

46 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 



Thereupon two young men, captives, both belonging to Marble- 
head, readily leapt into the boat, and I considering that if I 
could once get on shore, means might be found of effecting my 
escape, endeavored to go along with them. But the quarter- 
master, called Russell, catching hold of my shoulder, drew me 
back. As the young men did not return he thought I was 
privy to their plot, and, with the most outrageous oaths, snapped 
his pistol, on my denying all knowledge of it. The pistol miss- 
ing fire, however, only served to enrage him the more; he 
snapped it three times again, and as often it missed fire; on 
which he held it overboard, and then it went off. Russell on 
this drew his cutlass, and was about to attack me in the utmost 
fury, when I leapt down into the hold and saved myself. 

" Off St. Michael's the pirates took a large Portuguese pink, 
laden with wheat, coming out of the road; and being a good 
sailor, and carrying fourteen guns, transferred their company 
into her. It afterwards became necessary to careen her, whence 
they made three islands called Triangles lying about forty 
leagues to the eastward of Surinam. 

" In heaving down the pink. Low had ordered so many men 
to the shrouds and yards that the ports, by her heeling, got 
under water, and the sea rushing in, she overset; he and the 
doctor were then in the cabin, and as soon as he observed 
the water gushing in, he leaped out of the stern port while the 
doctor attempted to follow him. But the violence of the sea 
repulsed the latter, and he was forced back into the cabin. 
Low, however, contrived to thrust his arm into the port, and 
dragging him out, saved his life. Meanwhile, the vessel com- 
pletely overset. Her keel turned out of the water; but as the 
hull filled she sunk in the depth of about six fathoms. 

" The yardarms striking the ground, forced the masts some- 
what above the water; as the ship overset, the people, got from 
the shrouds and yards, upon the hull, and as the hull went 

47 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

down, they again resorted to the rigging, rising a httle out of 
the sea. 

" Being an indifferent swimmer, I was reduced to great ex- 
tremity; for along with other light lads, I had been sent up to 
the main-top-gallant yard; and the people of a boat who were 
now occupied in preserving the men refusing to take me in, I 
was compelled to attempt reaching the buoy. This I luckily 
accomplished, and as it was large secured myself there until 
the boat approached. I once more requested the people to 
take me in, but they still refused, as the boat was full. I was 
uncertain whether they designed leaving me to perish in this 
situation; however, the boat being deeply laden made way 
very slowly, and one of my comrades, captured at the same time 
with myself, calling to me to forsake the buoy and swim toward 
her, I assented, and reaching the boat, he drew me on board. 
Two men, John Bell, and Zana Gourdon, were lost in the 
pink. 

"Though the schooner in company was very near at hand, 
her people were employed mending their sails under an awning 
and knew nothing of the accident until the boat full of men got 
alongside. 

" The pirates having thus lost their principal vessel, and the 
greatest part of their provisions and water, were reduced to 
great extremities for want of the latter. They were unable to 
get a supply at the Triangles, nor on account of calms and 
currents, could they make the island of Tobago. Thus they 
were forced to stand for Grenada, which they reached after 
being on short allowance for sixteen days together. 

" Grenada was a French settlement, and Low, on arriving, 
after having sent all his men below, except a sufficient number 
to maneuver the vessel, said he was from Barbadoes; that he 
had lost the water on board, and was obliged to put in here 
for a supply. 

48 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

"The people entertained no suspicion of his being a pirate, 
but afterward supposing him a smuggler, thought it a good 
opportunity to make a prize of his vessel. Next day, there- 
fore, they equipped a large sloop of seventy tons and four guns 
with about thirty hands, as sufficient for the capture, and came 
alongside w^hile Low was quite unsuspicious of their design. 
But this being evidently betrayed by their number and actions, 
he quickly called ninety men on deck, and, having eight guns 
mounted, the French sloop became an easy prey. 

" Provided with these two vessels, the pirates cruised about in 
the West Indies, taking seven or eight prizes, and at length 
arrived at the island of Santa Cruz, where they captured two 
more. While lying there Low thought he stood in need of a 
medicine chest, and, in order to procure one sent four French- 
men in a vessel he had taken to St. Thomas's, about twelve 
leagues distant, with money to purchase it; promising them 
liberty, and the return of all their vessels for the service. But 
he declared at the same time if it proved otherwise, he would 
kill the rest of the men, and burn the vessels. In little more 
than twenty-four hours, the Frenchmen returned with the 
object of their mission, and Low punctually performed his 
promise by restoring the vessels. 

"Having sailed for the Spanish- American settlements, the 
pirates descried two large ships about half way between Cartha- 
gena and Portobello, which proved to be the Mermaid, an 
English man-of-war, and a Guineaman. They approached in 
chase until discovering the man-of-war's great range of teeth, 
when they immediately put about and made the best of their 
way off. The man-of-war then commenced the pursuit and 
gained upon them apace, and I confess that my terrors were 
now equal to any that I had previously suffered; for I con- 
cluded that we should certainly be taken, and that I should not 
less be hanged for company's sake; so true are the words of 

49 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Solomon: 'A companion of fools shall be destroyed.' But 
the two pirate vessels finding themselves outsailed, separated, 
and Farriugton Spriggs, who commanded the schooner in 
which I was stood in for the shore. The Mermaid observing 
the sloop with Low himself to be the larger of the two, crowded 
all sail, and continued gaining still more, indeed until her shot 
flew over; but one of the sloop's crew showed Low a shoal, which 
he could pass, and in the pursuit the man-of-war grounded. 
Thus the pirates escaped hanging on this occasion. 

" Spriggs and one of his chosen companions dreading the con- 
sequences of being captured and brought to justice, laid their 
pistols beside them in the interval, and pledging a mutual oath 
in a bumper of liquor, swore if they saw no possibility of escape, 
to set foot to foot and blow out each other's brains. But stand- 
ing toward the shore, they made Pickeroon Bay, and escaped 
the danger. 

"Next we repaired to a small island called Utilla, about seven 
or eight leagues to leeward of the island of Roatan, in the Bay 
of Honduras, where the bottom of the schooner was cleaned. 
There were now twenty-two persons on board, and eight of us 
engaged in a plot to overpower our masters, and make our 
escape. Spriggs proposed sailing for New England, in quest 
of provisions and to increase his company; and we intended 
on approaching the coast, when the rest had indulged freely in 
liquor and fallen sound asleep, to secure them under the hatches, 
and then deliver ourselves up to government. 

"Although our plot was carried on with all possible privacy, 
Spriggs had somehow or other got intelligence of it ; and having 
fallen in with Low on the voyage, went on board his ship to 
make a furious declaration against us. But Low made little 
account of his information, otherwise it might have been fatal 
to most of our number. Spriggs, however, returned raging to 
the schooner, exclaiming that four of us should go forward to 

50 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

be shot, and to me in particular he said: 'You dog Ashton, 
you deserve to be hanged up at the yardarm for designing to 
cut us off.' I repHed that I had no intention of injuring any 
man on board ; but I should be glad if they would allow me to 
go away quietly. At length this flame was quenched, and, 
through the goodness of God, I escaped destruction. 

" Roatan harbor, as all about the Bay of Honduras, is full of 
small islands, which pass under the general name of Keys; 
and having got in here, Low, with some of his chief men, landed 
on a small island, which they called Port Royal Key. There 
they erected huts, and continued carousing, drinking, and 
firing, while the different vessels, of which they now had posses- 
sion, were repairing. 

" On Saturday, the 9th of March, 1723, the cooper, with six 
hands, in the long-boat, was going ashore for water; and 
coming alongside of the schooner, I requested to be of the party. 
Seeing him hesitate, I urged that I had never hitherto been 
ashore, and thought it hard to be so closely confined when 
every one besides had the liberty of landing as there was occa- 
sion. Low had before told me, on requesting to be sent away 
in some of the captured vessels which he dismissed that I should 
go home when he did, and swore that I should never previously 
set my foot on land. But now I considered if I could possibly 
once get on terra firma, though in ever such bad circum- 
stances, I should account it a happy deliverance and resolved 
never to embark again. 

"The cooper at length took me into the long-boat, while Low 
and his chief people were on a different island from Roatan, 
where the watering place lay; my only clothing was an Osna- 
burgh frock and trowsers, a milled cap, but neither shirt, shoes, 
stockings, nor anything else. 

" When we first landed I was very active in assisting to get the 
casks out of the boat, and in rolling them to the watering place. 

51 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Then taking a hearty draught of water I strolled along the 
beach, picking up stones and shells; but on reaching the dis- 
tance of a musket-shot from the party I began to withdraw 
toward the skirts of the woods. In answer to a question by the 
cooper of whither I was going I replied, 'for cocoanuts,' as 
some cocoa trees were just before me; and as soon as I was out 
of sight of my companions I took to my heels, running as fast 
as the thickness of the bushes and my naked feet would admit. 
Notwithstanding I had got a considerable way into the woods, 
I was still so near as to hear the voices of the party if they spoke 
loud, and I lay close in a thicket where I knew they could not 
find me. 

"After my comrades had filled their caslcs and were about to 
depart, the cooper called on me to accompany them; however, 
I lay snug in the thicket, and gave him no answer, though his 
words were plain enough. At length, after hallooing loudly, I 
could hear them say to one another: 'The dog is lost in the 
woods, and cannot find the way out again '; then they hallooed 
once more, and cried ' He has run away and won't come to us '; 
and the cooper observed that had he known my intention he 
would not have brought me ashore. Satisfied of their inability 
to find me among the trees and bushes, the cooper at last, to 
show his kindness, exclaimed: 'If you do not come away 
presently, I shall go off and leave you alone.' Nothing, how- 
ever, could induce me to discover myself; and my comrades 
seeing it vain to wait any longer, put off without me. 

"Thus I was left on a desolate island, destitute of all help, 
and remote from the track of navigators; but compared with 
the state and society I had quitted, I considered the wilderness 
hospitable, and the solitude interesting. 

"When I thought the whole was gone, I emerged from my 
thicket, and came down to a small run of water, about a mile 
from the place where our casks were filled, and there sat down 

52 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

to observe the proceedings of the pirates. To my great joy in 
five days their vessels sailed, and I saw the schooner part from 
them to shape a different course. 

"I then began to reflect on myself and my present condition; 
I was on an island which I had no means of leaving; I knew of 
no human being within many miles; my clothing was scanty, 
and it was impossible to procure a supply. I was altogether 
destitute of provision, nor could tell how my life was to be 
supported. This melancholy prospect drew a copious flood of 
tears from my eyes; but as it had pleased God to grant my 
wishes in being liberated from those whose occupation was 
devising mischief against their neighbors, I resolved to account 
every hardship light. Yet I^ow would never suffer his men to 
work on the Sabbath, which was more devoted to play; and 
I have even seen some of them sit down to read in a good book. 

"In order to ascertain how I was to live in time to come, I 
began to range over the island, which proved ten or eleven 
leagues long, and lay in about sixteen degrees north latitude. 
But I soon found that my only companions would be the beasts 
of the earth, and fowls of the air; for there were no indications 
of any habitations on the island, though every now and then I 
found some shreds of earthen ware scattered in a lime walk, 
said by some to be the remains of Indians formerly dwelling 
here. 

"The island was well watered, full of high hills and deep 
valleys. Numerous fruit trees, such as figs, vines, and cocoa- 
nuts are found in the latter; and I found a kind larger than 
an orange, oval-shaped of a brownish color without, and red 
within. Though many of these had fallen under the trees, I 
could not venture to take them until I saw the wild hogs feeding 
with safety, and then I found them very delicious fruit. 

"Stores of provisions abounded here, though I could avail 
myself of nothing but the fruit; for I had no knife or iron 

53 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

implement, either to cut up a tortoise on turning it, or weapons 
wherewith to kill animals; nor had I any means of making a 
fire to cook my capture, even if I were successful. 

" To this place then was I confined during nine months, with- 
out seeing a human being. One day after another was lingered 
out, I know not how, void of occupation or amusement, except 
collecting food, rambling from hill to hill, and from island to 
island, and gazing on sky and water. Although my mind was 
occupied by many regrets, I had the reflection that I was law- 
fully employed when taken, so that I had no hand in bringing 
misery on myself; I was also comforted to think that I had 
the approbation and consent of my parents in going to sea, 
and trusted that it would please God, in his own time and 
manner, to provide for my return to my father's house. There- 
fore, I resolved to submit patiently to my misfortune. 

"Sometime in November, 1723, I descried a small canoe 
approaching with a single man; but the sight excited little 
emotion. I kept my seat on the beach, thinking I could not 
expect a friend, and knowing that I had no enemy to fear, nor 
was I capable of resisting one. As the man approached, he 
betrayed many signs of surprise; he called me to him, and I 
told him he might safely venture ashore, for I was alone, and 
almost expiring. Coming close up, he knew not what to make 
of me; my garb and countenance seemed so singular, that he 
looked wild with astonishment. He started back a little, and 
surveyed me more thoroughly; but, recovering himself again, 
came forward, and, taking me by the hand, expressed his 
satisfaction at seeing me. 

" This stranger proved to be a native of North Britain; he was 
well advanced in years, of a grave and venerable aspect, and 
of a reserved temper. His name I never knew, he did not 
disclose it, and I had not inquired during the period of our 
acquaintance. But he informed me he had lived twenty-two 

54 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

years with the Spaniards who now threatened to bum him, 
though I know not for what crime; therefore he had fled hither 
as a sanctuary, bringing his dog, gun, and ammunition, as also 
a small quantity of pork, along with him. He designed spending 
the remainder of his days on the island, where he could support 
himself by hunting. 

"I experienced much kindness from the stranger; he was 
always ready to perform any civil offices, and assist me in 
whatever he could, though he spoke little; and he gave me a 
share of his pork. 

" On the third day after his arrival, he said he would make an 
excursion in his canoe among the neighboring islands, for the 
purpose of killing wild hogs and deer, and wished me to accom- 
pany him. Though my spirits were somewhat recruited by 
his society, the benefit of the fire, which I now enjoyed, and 
dressed provisions, my weakness and the soreness of my feet, 
precluded me; therefore he set out alone, saying he would 
return in a few hours. The sky was serene, and there was no 
prospect of any danger during a short excursion, seeing he had 
come nearly twelve leagues in safety in his canoe. But, when 
he had been absent about an hour, a violent gust of wind and 
rain arose, in which he probably perished, as I never heard of 
him more. 

" Thus, after having the pleasure of a companion almost three 
days, I was as unexpectedly reduced to my former lonely state, 
as I had been relieved from it. Yet through the goodness of 
God, I was myself preserved from having been unable to 
accompany him; and I was left in better circumstances than 
those in which he had found me, for now I had about five 
pounds of pork, a knife, a bottle of gunpowder, tobacco, tongs 
and flint, by which means my life could be rendered more 
comfortable. I was enabled to have fire, extremely requisite 
at this time, being the rainy months of winter. I could cut up 

55 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a tortoise, and have a delicate broiled meal. Thus, by the 
help of the fire, and dressed provisions, through the blessings of 
God, I began to receive strength, though the soreness of my 
feet remained. But I had, besides, the advantage of being able 
now and then to catch a dish of cray fish, which, when roasted, 
proved good eating. To accomplish this I made up a small 
bundle of old broken sticks, nearly resembling pitch-pine, or 
candle-wood, and having lighted one end, waded with it in 
my hand, up to the waist in water. The cray fish, attracted 
by the light, would crawl to my feet and lie directly under it, 
when, by means of a forked stick, I could toss them ashore. 

" Between two and three months after the time of losing my 
companion, I found a small canoe, while ranging along the 
shore. The sight of it revived my regret for his loss, for I 
judged that it had been his canoe; and, from being washed up 
here, a certain proof of his having been lost in the tempest. 
But on examining it more closely, I satisfied myself that it was 
one which I had never seen before 

Three months after he lost his companion Philip Ashton 
found a small canoe which had drifted on the island beach. 
In this fragile craft he made his way to another island where 
he found a company of buccaneers who chased him through 
the woods with a volley of musketry. Re-embarking in his 
canoe he headed for the western end of this island and later 
reached Roatan where he lived alone for seven months longer. 
Here he was discovered and hospitably cared for by a number 
of Englishmen who had fled from the Bay of Honduras in fear 
of an attack by Spaniards. These refugees had planted crop 
and were living in what seemed to Philip Ashton as rare com- 
fort. "Yet after all," he said of them, "they were bad society, 
and as to their common conversation there was but little difi'er- 
ence between them and pirates." 

56 



Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates 

At length this colony of outlaws was attacked and disbanded by 
a ship's company of pirates headed by Spriggs who had thrown off 
his allegiance to Low and set up in the business of piracy for 
himself with a ship of twenty-four guns and a sloop of twelve. 

As lit on evaded their clutches and with one Symonds, who had 
also fled from the attack of Spriggs, made his way from one 
island to another until he was fortunate enough to find a fleet 
of English merchant vessels under convoy of the Diamond 
man-of-war bound for Jamaica. They touched at one of 
these islands near the Bay of Honduras to fill their water casks 
and it was there that Ashton found the Salem brigantine com- 
manded by Captain Dove. 

The journal says in conclusion: "Captain Dove not only 
treated me with great civility and engaged to give me a passage 
home but took me into pay, having lost a seaman whose place 
he wanted me to supply. 

"We sailed along with the Diamond, which was bound for 
Jamaica, in the latter end of March, 1725, and kept company 
until the first of April. By the providence of Heaven we passed 
safely through the Gulf of Florida, and reached Salem Harbor 
on the first of May, two years, ten months and fifteen days after 
I was first taken by pirates; and two years, and two months, 
after making my escape from them on Roatan island. That 
same evening I went to my father's house, where I was received 
as one risen from the dead." 



57 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PRIVATEERSMEN OF '76 

PRIVATEERING has ceased to be a factor in civilized 
warfare. The swift commerce destroyer as an arm of 
the naval service has taken the place of the private 
armed ship which roamed the seas for its own profit as well for 
its country's cause. To-day the United States has a navy 
prepared both to defend its own merchant vessels, what few 
there are, and to menace the trade of a hostile nation on the 
high seas. 

When the War of the Revolution began, however, Britannia 
ruled the seas, and the naval force of the Colonies was pitifully 
feeble. In 1776 there were only thirty-one Continental cruisers 
of all classes in commission and this list was steadily diminished 
by the ill-fortunes of war until in 1782 only seven ships flew 
the American flag, which had been all but swept from the 
ocean. During the war these ships captured one hundred and 
ninety-six of the enemy's craft. 

On the other hand, there were already one hundred and 
thirty-six privateers at sea by the end of the year 1776, and 
their number increased until in 1781 there were four hundred 
and forty-nine of these private commerce destroyers in com- 
mission. This force took no fewer than eight hundred British 
vessels and made prisoners of twelve thousand British seamen 
during the war. The privateersmen dealt British maritime 
prestige the deadliest blow in history. It had been an undreamt 
of danger that the American Colonies should humble that flag 
which "had waved over every sea and triumphed over every 

58 



The Privatcersmen of '76 



rival," until even the English and Irish Channels were not 
safe for British ships to traverse. The preface of the Sailor's 
Vade-Mecum, edition of 1744, contained the following lofty 
doctrine which all good Englishmen believed, and which was 
destined to be shattered by a contemptible handful of seafaring 
rebels : 

" That the Monarchs of Great Britain have a peculiar and 
Sovereign Authority upon the Ocean, is a Right so Ancient and 
Undeniable that it never was publicly disputed, but by Hugo 
Grotius in his Mare Liberum, published in the Year 1636, 
in Favour of the Dutch Fishery upon our Coasts ; which Book 
was fully Controverted by Mr. Selden's Mare Clausum, 
wherein he proves this Sovereignty from the Laws of God and 
of Nature, besides an uninterrupted Fruition of it for so many 
Ages past as that its Beginning cannot be traced out." 

When the War of 1812 was threatening. The London States- 
man paid this unwilling tribute to the prowess of these Yankee 
privatcersmen of the Revolution : 

"Every one must recollect what they did in the latter part 
of the American War. The books at Lloyds will recount it, 
and the rate of assurances at that time will clearly prove what 
their diminutive strength was able to effect in the face of our 
navy, and that when nearly one hundred pennants were flying 
on their coast. Were we able to prevent their going in and out, 
or stop them from taking our trade and our store-ships, even 
in size of our own garrisons? Besides, were they not in the 
English and Irish Channels picking up our homeward bound 
trade, sending their prizes into French and Spanish ports to the 
great terror and annoyance of our merchants and shipowners? 

"These are facts which can be traced to a period when 
America was in her infancy, without ships, without money, and 
at a time when our navy was not much less in strength than at 
present." 

59 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

At the beginning of the Revolution, Salem was sending 
its boys to fill the forecastles of the vessels built in its own 
yards and commanded by its own shipmasters. Hard by 
were the towns of Beverly and Marblehead whose townsmen 
also won their hardy livelihood on the fishing banks and along 
distant and perilous trading routes. When British squadrons 
and cruisers began to drive them ashore to starve in idleness, 
these splendid seamen turned their vessels into privateers and 
rushed them to sea like flights of hawks. It was a matter of 
months only before they had made a jest of the boastful lines 
which had long adorned the columns of the Naval Chronicle 
of London: 

"The sea and waves are Britain's broad domain 
And not a sail but by permission spreads." 

This race of seafarers had been drilled to handle cannon and 
muskets. Every merchantman that sailed for Europe or the 
West Indies carried her battery of six pounders, and hundreds 
of Salem men and boys could tell you stories of running fights 
and escapes from French and Spanish freebooters and swarming 
pirates. Commerce on the high seas was not a peaceful .pur- 
suit. The merchantman was equipped to become a privateer 
by shipping a few more guns and signing on a stronger company. 
The conditions of the times which had made these seamen able 
to fight as shrewdly as they traded may be perceived from the 
following extracts from the "Seaman's Vade-Mecum," as they 
appear in the rare editions published both in 1744 and 1780: 
"Shewing how to prepare a Merchant Ship for a close fight by 
disposing their Bulk-heads, Leaves, Coamings, Look-holes, etc." 

"If the Bulkhead of the Great Cabbin be well fortified it 
may be of singular Use; for though the Enemy may force the 
Steerage, yet when they unexpectedly meet with another Barri- 
cade and from thence a warm Reception by the Small Arms, they 
will be thrown into great Confusion, and a Cannon ready 

60 



The Privateersmen of '76 



loaded with Case-shot will do great Execution; but if this 
should not altogether answer the Purpose, it will oblige the 
Enemy to pay the dearer for their Conquest. For the Steerage 
may hold out the longer, and the Men will be the bolder in 
defending it, knowing that they have a place to retire into, and 
when there they may Capitulate for Good Quarter at the last 
Extremity. . . ." 

". . . It has been objected that Scuttles (especially that 
out of the Forecastle) are Encouragements for Cowardice; that 
having no such Convenience, the Men are more resolute, be- 
cause they must fight, die or be taken. Now if they must 
fight or die, it is highly unreasonable and as cruel to have Men 
to be cut to Pieces when they are able to defend their Posts no 
longer, and in this Case the Fate of the Hero and the Coward 
is alike; and if it is to fight or be taken, the Gallant will hold 
out to the last while the Coward (if the danger runs high), sur- 
renders as soon as Quarter is offered; and now if there be a 
Scuttle, the Menace of the Enemy will make the less Impression 
on their Minds, and they will stand out the longer, when they 
know they can retire from the Fury of the Enemy in case they 
force their Quarters. In short, it will be as great a blemish in 
the Commander's Politics to leave Cowards without a Scuttle 
as it will be Ingratitude to have Gallant Men to be cut to 

Pieces." 

"How to Make a Sally 

"Having (by a vigorous defence) repulsed the Enemy from 
your Bulkheads, and cutting up your Deck, it may be necessary 
to make a Sally to compleat your Victory; but by the Way, 
the young Master must use great caution before he Sally 
out, lest he be drawn into some Strategem to his Ruin; there- 
fore for a Ship of but few hands it is not a Mark of Cowardice 
to keep the Close-Quarters so long as the Enemy is on board; 
and if his Men retire out of your Ship, fire into him through 

61 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

your Look-holes and Ports till he calls for Quarter. And if 
it should ever come to that, you must proceed Warily (unless 
you out Number him in Men) and send but a few of your Hands 
into his Ship while the others are ready with all their Small- 
arms and Cannon charged; and if they submit patiently dis- 
arm and put them down below, where there is no Powder or 
Weapons; but plunder not, lest your men quarrel about Trifles 
or be too intent in searching for Money, and thereby give the 
Enemy an opportunity to destroy you; and if you take the 
Prize (when you come into an harbor) let everything be equally 
shared among the Men, the Master only reserving to himself 
the Affections of his Men by his Generosity which with the 
Honour of the Victory to a brave Mind is equivalent to all the 
rest. . . ." 

"It is presumed that the Sally will be most Advantageous if 
made out of the Round-house, because having cleared the 
Poop, you will have no Enemy at your back; wherefore let all 
but two or more, according to your Number, step up into the 
Round-house, bringing with them all or most of the Musquets 
and Pistols there, leaving only the Blunderbusses. Let all the 
Small Arms in the Quarters be charged, and the Cannon that 
flank the Decks and out of the Bulk-heads, traversing those in 
the Round-house, pointing towards the mizzen-mast to gaul 
the Enemy in case of a retreat. All things being thus prepared, 
let a Powder-chest be sprung upon the Poop, and four Hand 
Granadoes tost out of the Ports, filled with Flower and fuzees 
of a long duration, then let the Door be opened, and in the 
Confusion make your Sally at once, half advancing forward 
and the other facing about to clear the Poop; when this is 
done, let them have an eye to the Chains. At the Round-house 
Door let two men be left to stand by the Port-cullis, each having 
a brace of Pistols to secure a Retreat; let then those in the 
Forecastle never shoot right aft, after the Sally is made, unless 

62 



The Privateersmen of '76 



parallel with the Main Deck. The rest must be left to Judg- 
ment," 

Try to imagine, if you please, advice of such tenor as this 
compiled for the use of the captains of the transatlantic liners 
or cargo "tramps" of to-day, and you will be able to compre- 
hend in some slight measure how vast has been the change in 
the conditions of the business of the sea, and what hazards our 
American forefathers faced to win their bread on quarterdeck 
and in forecastle. Nor were such desperate engagements as 
are outlined in this ancient "Seaman's Vade-Mecum " at all 
infrequent. "Round-houses" and "great cabbins" were de- 
fended with "musquets," "javalins," "Half-pikes" and cut- 
lasses, and " hand-granadoes " in many a hand-to-hand conflict 
with sea raiders before the crew of the bluff-blowed, high- 
popped Yankee West Indiaman had to " beat off the boarders " 
or make a dashing "Sally" or "capitulate for Good Quarter 
at the last Extremity." 

Of such, then, were the privateersmen who flocked down the 
wharves and among the tavern "rendezvous" of Salem as soon 
as the owners of the waiting vessels had obtained their com- 
missions from the Continental Congress, and issued the call 
for volunteers. Mingled with the hardy seamen who had 
learned their trade in Salem vessels were the sons of wealthy 
shipping merchants of the best blood of the town and county 
who embarked as "gentlemen volunteers," eager for glory and 
plunder, and a chance to avenge the wrongs they and their 
kinfolk had suffered under British trade laws and at the hands 
of British press gangs. 

The foregoing extracts from the "Seaman's Vade-Mecum" 
show how singularly fixed the language of the sea has remained 
through the greater part of two centuries. With a few slight 
differences, the terms in use then are commonly employed to-day. 
It is therefore probable that if you could have been on old 

63 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Derby Wharf in the year of 1776, the talk of the busy, sun- 
browned men and boys around you would have sounded by no 
means archaic. The wharf still stretches a long arm into the 
harbor and its tumbling warehouses, timbered with great 
hewn beams, were standing during the Revolution. Then 
they were filled with cannon, small arms, rigging and ships' 
stores as fast as they could be hauled hither. Fancy needs 
only to picture this land-locked harbor alive with square-rigged 
vessels, tall sloops and topsail schooners, their sides checkered 
with gun-ports, to bring to life the Salem of the privateersman 
of one hundred and forty years ago. 

Shipmasters had no sooner signaled their homecoming with 
deep freights of logwood, molasses or sugar than they received 
orders to discharge with all speed and clear their decks for 
mounting batteries and slinging the hammocks of a hundred 
waiting privateersmen. The guns and men once aboard, the 
crews were drilling night and day while they waited the chance 
to slip to sea. Their armament included carronades, "Long 
Toms" and "long six" or "long nine" pounders, sufficient 
muskets, blunderbusses, pistols, cutlasses, tomahawks, boarding 
pikes, hand grenades, round shot, grape, canister, and double- 
headed shot. 

When larger vessels were not available tiny sloops with 
twenty or thirty men and boys mounted one or two old guns 
and put to sea to " capture a Britisher " and very likely be taken 
themselves by the first English ship of war that sighted them. 
The prize money was counted before it was caught, and seamen 
made a business of selling their shares in advance, preferring 
the bird in the bush, as shown by the following bill of sale : 

"Beverly, ye 7th, 1776. 
"Know all men by these presents, that I the subscriber, in 
consideration of the sum of sixteen dollars to me in hand paid 

64 



The Privateersmen of '76 



by Mr. John Waters, in part for -^ share of all the Prizes that 
may be taken during the cruize of the Privateer Sloop called 
the Revenge, whereof Benjamin Dean is commissioned Com- 
mander, and for the further consideration of twenty-four dollars 
more to be paid at the end of the whole cruize of the said Sloop ; 
and these certify that I the subscriber have sold, bargained 
and conveyed unto the said John Waters, or his order, the one 
half share of my whole share of all the prizes that may be taken 
during the whole cruize of said Sloop. Witness my hand, 

"P. H. Brockhorn." 

An endorsement on the back of the document records that 
Mr. Waters received the sum of twenty pounds for "parte of 
the within agreement," which return reaped him a handsome 
profit on the speculation. Many similar agreements are pre- 
served to indicate that Salem merchants plunged heavily on 
the risks of privateering by buying seamens' shares for cash. 
The articles of agreement under which these Salem privateers 
of the Revolution made their warlike cruises belong with a 
vanished age of sea life. These documents were, in the main, 
similar to the following : 

"Articles of Agreement 

" Concluded at Salem this Seventh day of May, 1781, between 
the owners of the Privateer Ship Rover, commanded by James 
Barr, now fixing in this port for a cruise of four months against 
the Enemies of the United States of America, on the first part 
and the officers and seamen belonging to said Ship Rover on 
the other part as follows, viz.: 

"Article 1st. The owners agree to fix with all expedition 
said Ship for sea, and cause her to be mounted with Twenty 
Guns, four Pounders, with a sufficiency of ammunition of all 
kinds and good provisions for one Hundred men for four 
months' cruise, also to procure an apparatus for amputating, 

65 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and such a Box of medicine as shall be thought necessary by 
the Surgeon. 

"Article 2nd. The Officers and Seamen Shall be entitled 
to one half of all the prizes captured by Said Ship after the cost 
of condemning, etc., is deducted from the whole. 

" Article 3rd. The Officers and Seamen agree that they will 
to the utmost of their abilities discharge the duty of Officers 
and Seamen, according to their respective Stations on board 
Said Ship, her boats and Prizes, by her taken, and the Officers 
and Seamen further agree that if any Officer or Private shall 
in time of any engagement with any Vessell abandon his Post 
on board said Ship or any of her boats or Prizes by her taken, 
or disobey the commands of the Captain or any Superior Officer, 
that said Officer or Seaman, if adjudged guilty by three Officers, 
the Captain being one, shall forfeit all right to any Prize or 
Prizes by her taken. 

"Article 4th. The Officers and Seamen further agree that 
if any Officer shall in time of any engagement or at any other 
time behave unworthy of the Station that he holds on board 
said Ship, it shall be in the power of three officers, the captain 
being one, to displace said Officer, and appoint any one they 
may see fit in his place. That if any Officer belonging to said 
Ship shall behave in an unbecoming character of an officer 
and gentleman, he shall be dismissed and forfeit his share of 
the cruise. 

"Article 5th. The owners, officers and Seamen agree that 
if any one shall first discover a sail which shall prove to be a 
Prize, he shall be entitled to Five hundred Dollars. 

"Article 6th. Any one who shall first board any Vessell in 
time of an engagement, which shall prove a Prize, Shall be 
entitled to one thousand Dollars and the best firelock on board 
said Vessell, officers' prizes being excepted. 

"Article 7th. If any officer or Seaman shall at the time of 

66 
















/ 



r- 



-^/— ^.^.,//.^ y^'^ 



j/l^ y^ " fzr/ 






Ai,freement hy wliicli a Revolutionary privateer seaman sold his share of the 
bootv in advance of his cruise 



The Privateersmen of '76 



an Engagement loose a leg or an arm he shall be entitled to 
Four Thousand Dollars ; if any officer or Seaman shall loose an 
Eye in time of an Engagement, he shall receive the Sum of 
Two thousand Dollars ; if any officer shall loose a joint he shall 
be entitled to one thousand Dollars, the same to be paid from 
the whole amount of prizes taken by said Ship. 

"Article 8th. That no Prize master or man, that shall be 
put on board any Prize whatever and arrive at any port what- 
ever. Shall be entitled to his share or shares, except he remain 
to discharge the Prize, or he or they are discharged by the agent 
of said Ship, except the Privateer is arrived before the Prize. 

"Article 9th. That for the Preservation of Good order on 
board said Ship, no man to quit or go out of her, on board of 
any other Vessell without having obtained leave from the com- 
manding officer on board. 

"Article 10th. That if any person Shall count to his own 
use any part of the Prize or Prizes or be found pilfering any 
money or goods, and be convicted thereof, he shall forfeit his 
Share of Prize money to the Ship and Company. 

" That if any person shall be found a Ringleader of a meeting 
or cause any disturbance on board, refuse to obey the command 
of the Captain, or any officer or behave with Cowardice, or get 
drunk in time of action, he shall forfeit his or their Share of or 
Shares to the rest of the Ship's Company." 

So immensely popular was the privateering service among 
the men and youth of Salem and nearby ports that the naval 
vessels of the regular service were hard put to enlist their crews. 
When the fifes and drums sounded through the narrow streets 
with a strapping privateersman in the van as a recruiting officer, 
he had no trouble in collecting a crowd ready to listen to his 
persuasive arguments whose burden was prize money and 
glory. More than once a ship's company a hundred strong 

G7 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

was enrolled and ready to go on board by sunset of the day the 
call for volunteers was made. Trembling mothers and weeping 
wives could not hold back these sailors of theirs, and as for the 
sweethearts they could only sit at home and hope that Seth or 
Jack would come home a hero with his pockets lined with gold 
instead of finding his fate in a burial at sea, or behind the 
walls of a British prison. 

It was customary for the owners of the privateer to pay the 
cost of the "rendezvous," which assembling of the ship's com- 
pany before sailing was held in the "Blue Anchor," or some 
other sailors' tavern down by the busy harbor. That the 
"rendezvous" was not a scene of sadness and that the priva- 
teersmen were wont to put to sea with no dust in their throats 
may be gathered from the following tavern bill of 1781: 

Db. 

Captain George Williams, Agent Privateer Brig Sturdy Beggar to 
Jonathan Archer, Jr. 

To Rendezvous Bill as follows: 
1781 Aug. 8-12 to 11 Bowls punch at 3-1 Bowl tod. at 1-3 1.14.3 

14 to 8 bowls punch 1 bowl chery tod. at 1-9 1. 5.9 

20 to 6 bowls punch 8 Bowls Chery tod. 2 Grog 1.14.6 
22 to 7 bowls puncli 7 bowls Chery tod. 1.13.3 

30 to 14 Bowls punch 8 bowls Chery tod. and 2^ 

Grog 2.19.1 

Sept. 4 to 7 Bowls punch 10 bowls chery 3 Grog 2.13.9 

6 to 10 bowls punch 1 bowl chery tod. 2 grog 1.14.3 

10 to 4 J bowls punch 1 . 2.6 

There were stout heads as well as stout hearts in New Eng- 
land during those gallant days and it is safe to say that the crew 
of the Sturdy Beggar was little the worse for wear after the 
farewell rounds of puncli, grog and "chery tod." at the ren- 
dezvous ruled by mine host, Jonathan Archer. It was to be 
charged against privateering that it drew away from the naval 
service the best class of recruits. 

68 



The Privateersmen of '76 



An eye witness, Ebenezer Fox of Roxbury, wrote this account 
of the putting an armed State ship into commission in 1780: 

" The coast was Hned with British cruisers which had almost 
annihilated our commerce. The State of Massachusetts judged 
it expedient to build a gun vessel, rated as a twenty-gun ship, 
named Protector,* commanded by Captain John Foster Williams, 
to be fitted as soon as possible and sent to sea. A rendezvous 
was established for recruits at the head of Hancock's Wharf 
(Boston) where the National flag, then bearing thirteen stars 
and stripes, was hoisted. 

" All means were resorted to which ingenuity could devise to 
induce men to enlist. A recruiting officer bearing a flag and 
attended by a band of martial music paraded the streets, to 
excite a thirst for glory and a spirit of military ambition. The 
recruiting officer possessed the qualifications requisite to make 
the service alluring, especially to the young. He was a jovial, 
good-natured fellow, of ready wit and much broad humor. 
Crowds followed in his wake, and he occasionally stopped at 
the corners to harangue the multitude in order to excite their 
patriotism. When he espied any large boys among the idle 
crowd crowded around him he would attract their attention 
by singing in a comical manner: 

"'All you that have bad Masters, 
And cannot get your due, 
Come, come, my brave boys 
And join our ship's crew. ' 

"Shouting and huzzaing would follow and some join the 
ranks. My excitable feelings were aroused. I repaired to the 
rendezvous, signed the ship's papers, mounted a cockade and 
was, in my own estimation, already half a sailor. 

"The recruiting business went on slowly, however; but at 

* See Captain Luther Little's story of the Protector's fight with the Admiral 
Duff. Chapter VI, Page 109. 

69 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

length upward of 300 men were carried, dragged and driven 
on board ; of all ages, kinds and descriptions ; in all the various 
stages of intoxication from that of sober tipsiness to beastly 
drunkenness; with the uproar and clamor that may be more 
easily imagined than described. Such a motley group has 
never been seen since Falstaff's ragged regiment paraded the 
streets of Coventry." 

When Captain John Paul Jones, however, was fitting out the 
Ranger in Portsmouth harbor in the spring of 1777, many a 
Salem lad forsook privateering to follow the fortunes of this 
dashing commander in the service of their country. On Salem 
tavern doors and in front of the town hall was posted the fol- 
lowing " broadside," adorned with a wood cut of a full-rigged 
fighting ship. It was a call that appealed to the spirit of the 
place, and it echoes with thrilling effect, even as one reads it a 
hundred and forty years after its proclamation: 

" Great 
Encouragement 
For Seamen 
"All Gentlemen Seamen and able-bodied Landsmen who 
have a Mind to distinguish themselves in the Glorious Cause 
of their Country and make their Fortunes, an opportunity 
now offers on board the Ship Ranger of Twenty Guns (for 
France) now laying in Portsmouth in the State of New Hamp- 
shire, Commanded by John Paul Jones, Esq.: let them repair 
to the Ship's Rendezvous In Portsmouth, or at the Sign of 
Commodore Manley in Salem, where they will be kindly 
entertained, and receive the greatest Encouragement. The 
Ship Ranger In the Opinion of every Person who has seen 
her is looked upon to be one of the best Cruizers in America. 
She will be always able to fight her Guns under a most 
excellent Cover; and no Vessel yet built was ever calculated 
for sailing faster. 

70 




EN COURAGEME N-33 



O R 



SEAMEN. 

t,L GEN . LtMEN SEAME .V irid sHc-bodied L ANDS^IEAL 
who h ..x a Miod U) diftinguifli tlicmlclvcsJa-thc-GXrOiiTo U& 
CAU;-Jf of their CXr :TRy, juxi'riialce chcir Fortunes, »a, Op- 
■f '^- jxjHuuity rrow oftry Co i-i-rd list a/ijp RAN G.gJ<Jj_pf;J'we«t7**"' 
Gunj»_{for Fr^v; = ;.jio\«.-lay«^ ir, ijoitiwo^ iji, lu ihe state ot New.4Jam»^ ' 
dbyJOHr- I'AUL JONV£''E('Qi !c-. ihcra re;. air r>rffic~'S5ip": ^ KctJc z^ 
•»du: in Po«T«Mou rw, or at the Sign of C.jrfSmoiip* l*f ,nl' y, i.t Salph, where they will be feind- 
!y eDtertain«d, and receive the greatcll Eucoura^root.-- i he Ship kASGE», in the Opinion of 

every Perfon who his fcen her is lookec upon t^hr r^i ot the be!} Cruizcrs i;i Ams«:ca. She 

will be always able to Fight her Gutii n; l^f ajinoft .cx^ei' ,t Cover ; .ai;J no VclTci yet builc 
was ever calculated lor tiding tiC.cr, ai; i inaVj!i.i} gu.<i A cathex. 




Any GsNTiMiEN Volcsteiri whc hive ?- -^i'd to .Ic . 
Seafon of tiic Year, may, b\' entering en bo^;-] the above 
Gifilirj' they can f)o'Ti':Iy cxpcdt, and f.T a Kriher Eticoui 
portunity bein^ cnibui-C i to I'.A^rd each one .>.gre»b!r to 



Ship K 



pieafinc 

:h every 
r.rrt Op- 



1^^ -jflTrearonj^ie i iavr;:.ng Expcoces will W iliowed, and th; Advancc-Mo;iev be paid cu 
^^ 'thcit Avptara -.ci oq Board. ' 

n*"'"- ■ In C a N P R E S 3, AU«CH 29, 1777, 

R t fi ^ L . fi n . 

THAT t.'ie M,,:;-.E CoMu;TTEi,be autliifcd ro advance to every »ble Seaman, ^»t 
„""'*,'"'" ''"■ Co---T>NfNTAi SfrviI,' any Sum not Oiceediug FORTY DOL- 
LAR b, ;v>d to every ordinary Seamiii otJ-Landfman, any Sum not excctdir." TWEhf- 
FY DOLLARS, to be deduced frjin|thc.r future Priie-Money. 

By Order of Con c *. is «, 

[ [i o H N - Hancock:, Piu^ot- 




ihe Houli U:c the Eilf-Ti 



l 



I'ruclaiiiutiuii posted in Salciu during tlic Kevululiuii calliiio lur vuluuteers 
aboard Paul Jones' Ranger 



The Privateersmen of '76 



"x\ny Gentlemen Volunteers who have a Mind to take 
an agreable Voyage in this pleasant Season of the Year may, 
by entering on board the above Ship Ranger meet with every 
Civihty they can possibly expect, and for a further Encourage- 
ment depend on the first Opportunity being embraced to 
reward each one Agreable to his Merit. All reasonable 
Travelling Expences will be allowed, and the Advance Money 
be paid on their Appearance on Board. 

"In Congress, March 29, 1777. 
" Resolved, 

"That the Marine Committee be authorized to advance to 
every able Seaman that enters into the Continental Service, 
any Sum not exceeding Forty Dollars, and to every ordinary 
Seaman or Landsman any Sum not exceeding Twenty Dol- 
lars, to be deducted from their future Prize Money. 

"By Order of Congress, 

"John Hancock, President." 

It was of this cruise that Yankee seamen the world over were 
singing in later years the song of "Paul Jones and the Ranger," 
which describes her escape from a British battleship and four 
consorts : 

" 'Tis of the gallant Yankee ship 

That flew the Stripes and Stars, 

And the whistling wind from the west nor west 

Blew through her pitch pine spars. 

With her starboard tacks aboard, my boys. 

She hung upon the gale. 

On an autumn night we raised the light 

On the old Head of Kinsale. 



'Up spake our noble captain then, 
As a shot ahead of us past; 
'Haul snug your flowing courses. 
Lay your topsail to the mast.' 

71 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Those Englishmen gave three loud hurrahs 
From the deck of their covered ark, 
And we answered back by a solid broadside 
From the decks of our patriot bark. 

'Out booms, out booms,' our skipper cried, 

'Out booms and give her sheet,' 

And the swiftest keel that ever was launched 

Shot ahead of the British fleet. 

And amidst a thundering shower of shot. 

With stern sails hoisted away, 

Down the North Channel Paul Jones did steer 

Just at the break of day." 

The privateersmen were as ready to fight, if needs be, as 
were these seamen that chose to sail with Paul Jones in the 
Continental service. All British merchantmen carried guns 
and heavy crews to man them, and while many of them thought 
it wisdom to strike their colors to a heavily armed privateer 
without a show of resistance, the "packet ships" and Indiamen 
were capable of desperate actions. The American privateers 
ran the gauntlet also of the king's ships which swarmed in our 
waters, and they met and engaged both these and British priva- 
teers as formidable as themselves. The notable sea fights of 
this kind are sometimes best told in the words of the men who 
fought them. Captain David Ropes, of an old Salem seafaring 
family, was killed in a privateer action which was described in 
the following letter written by his lieutenant, later Captain 
William Gray. Their vessel was the private armed ship Jack 
of Salem, carrying twelve guns and sixty men. 

"Salem, June 12, 1782. 

"On the 28th of May, cruising near Halifax, saw a brig 

standing in for the land; at 7 P.M. discovered her to have a 

copper bottom, sixteen guns and full of men; at half-past nine 

o'clock she came alongside when a close action commenced. 

72 



The Privateersmen of '76 



"It was our misfortune to have our worthy commander, 
Captain Ropes, mortally wounded at the first broadside. I 
was slightly wounded at the same time in my right hand and 
head, but not so as to disable me from duty. The action was 
maintained on both sides close, severe, and without intermission 
for upwards of two hours, in which time we had seven killed, 
several wounded and several abandoned their quarters. Our 
rigging was so destroyed that not having command of our yards, 
the Jack fell with her larboard bow foul of the brig's starboard 
quarter, when the enemy made an attempt to board us, but 
they were repulsed by a very small number compared with 
them. We were engaged in this position about a quarter of 
an hour, in which time I received a wound by a bayonet fixed 
on a musket which was hove with such force, as entering my 
thigh close to the bone, entered the carriage of a bow gun 
where I was fastened, and it was out of my power to get clear 
until assisted by one of the prize masters. 

"We then fell round and came without broadsides to each 
other, when we resumed the action with powder and balls; 
but our match rope, excepting some which was unfit for use, 
being all expended, and being to leeward, we bore away making 
a running fight. The brig being far superior to us in number 
of men, was able to get soon repaired, and completely ready to 
renew the action. She had constantly kept up a chasing fire, 
for we had not been out of reach of her musketry. She was 
close alongside of us again, with fifty picked men for boarding. 

"I therefore called Mr. Glover and the rest together and 
found we had but ten men on deck. I had been repeatedly 
desired to strike, but I mentioned the suffering of the prison 
ship, and made use of every other argument in my power for 
continuing the engagement. All the foreigners, however, 
deserted their quarters at every opportunity. At 2 o'clock P.M. 
I had the inexpressible mortification to deliver up the vessel. 

73 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" I was told, on enquiry, that we were taken by the Observer, 
a sloop of war belonging to the navy, commanded by Captain 
Grymes. She was formerly the Amsterdam, and owned in 
Boston; that she was calculated for sixteen guns, but then had 
but twelve on board; that the Blonde frigate, being cast away 
on Seal Island, the captain, officers, and men had been taken 
off by Captain Adams, in a sloop belonging to Salem, and 
Captain Stoddart in a schooner belonging to Boston, and by 
them landed on the main. Most of the officers and men having 
reached Halifax were by the Governor sent on board the brig 
in order to come out and convoy in the captain of a frigate who 
was, with some of his men, coming to Halifax in a shallop, 
and that the afternoon before the action, he and some others 
were taken on board the brig, which increased his number to 
one hundred and seventy-five men. 

"Captain Ropes died at 4 o'clock P.M. on the day we were 
taken, after making his will with the greatest calmness and 
composure." 

The Nova Scotia Gazette of June 4, 1782, contained this letter 
as a sequel of an incident mentioned by Lieutenant Gray in 
the foregoing account of the action : 

"To the Printer, Sir: In justice to humanity, I and all my 
officers and Ship's company of His Majesty's late Ship Blonde 
by the commanders of the American Private Ships of War, the 
Lively and the Scammel (Captains Adams and Stoddart), have 
the pleasure to inform the Public that they not only readily 
received us on board their Vessels and carried us to Cape Race, 
but cheerfully Supplied us with Provisions till we landed at 
Yarmouth, when on my releasing all my Prisoners, sixty-four 
in number, and giving them a Passport to secure them from 
our Cruisers in Boston Bay, they generously gave me the Same 

74 



The Privateersmen of '76 



to prevent our being made Prisoners or plundered by any of 
their Privateers we might chance to meet on our Passage to 
HaHfax. 

"For the relief and comfort they so kindly affoarded us in 
our common Sufferings and Distress, we must arduantly hope 
that if any of their Privateers should happen to fall into the 
hands of our Ships of War, that they will treat them with the 
utmost lenity, and give them every endulgance in their Power 
and not look upon them (Promiscuously) in the Light of Ameri- 
can Prisoners, Captain Adams especially, to whom I am in- 
debted more particularly obliged, as will be seen by his letters 
herewith published. My warmest thanks are also due to Cap- 
tain Tuck of the Blonde'' s Prize Ship Lion (Letter of Marque of 
Beverly) and to all his officers and men for their generous and 
indefatigable endeavors to keep the Ship from Sinking (night 
and day at the Pumps) till all but one got off her and by the 
blessing of God saved our Lives. 

" You will please to publish this in your next Paper, . . . 
which will oblige your humble Servant, 

"Edward Thornbrough, 
"Commander of H. M. late Ship Blonde.*^ 

A very human side of warfare is shown in this correspondence, 
coupled with the brutal inconsistency of war, for after their 
rescue the officers and men of the Blonde, who felt such sincere 
friendship and gratitude toward the crews of two Yankee 
privateers, had helped to spread death and destruction aboard 
the luckless Jack. 

The log books of the Revolutionary privateersmen out of 
Salem are so many fragments of history, as it was written day 
by day, and flavored with the strong and vivid personalities of 
the men who sailed and fought and sweated and swore without 
thought of romance in their adventurous calling. There is the 

75 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

log of the privateer schooner Scorpion, for example, during a 
cruise made in 1778. Her master has so far sailed a bootless 
voyage when he penned this quaint entry: 

" This Book was Maid in the Lattd. of 24 : 30 North and in 
the Longtd. of 54 : 00 West at the Saim time having Contryary 
Winds for Several Days which Makes me fret a 'most Wicked. 
Daly I praye there Maye be Change such as I Want. This 
Book I Maid to Keep the Accounts of my Voyage but God 
Knoes beste When that Will be, for I am at this Time very 
Empasente* but I hope there soon be a Change to Ease my 
trobled Mind. Which is my Earneste Desire and of my people. 
************* (illegible) is this day taken with the palsy, but 
I hope will soon gete beter. On this Day I was Chaced by two 
Ships of War which I tuck to be Enemies, but comeing in thick 
Weather I have Lost Site of them and so conclude myself Escapt 
which is a small Good Fortune in the Midste of my Discourage- 
mentes." 

A note of Homeric mirth echoes from the past of a hundred 
and forty years ago in the " Journal of a Cruising Voyage in the 
Letter of Marque Schooner Success, commanded by Captain 
Philip Thrash, Commencing 4th Oct. 1778." Captain Thrash, 
a lusty and formidable name by the way, filled one page after 
another of his log with rather humdrum routine entries; how 
he took in and made sail and gave chase and drilled his crew at 
the guns, etc. At length the reader comes to the following 
remarks. They stand without other comment or explanation, 
and leave one with a desire to know more: 

"At 1-2 past 8 discovered a Sail ahead, tacked ship. At 
9 tacked ship and past just to Leeward of the sail which appeared 
to be a damn'd Comical Boat, by G — d." 

What was it about this strange sail overhauled in midocean 

* (impatient) 
76 



L 






"frrllnyni mmz'^''^ ' 







I I 



Tlie Privateersmen of '76 



by Captain Philip Thrash that should have so stirred his rude 
sense of humor? Why did she strike him as so "damn'd 
Comical"? They met and went their way and the "Comical" 
craft dropped hull down and vanished in a waste of blue water 
and so passed forever from our ken. But I for one would give 
much to know why she aroused a burst of gusty laughter along 
the low rail of the letter-of-marque schooner Success. 



77 



CHAPTER V 

JONATHAN HARADEN, PRIVATEERSMAN 

(1776-1782) 

THE United States navy, with its wealth of splendid 
tradition, has few more commanding figures than 
Captain Jonathan Haraden, the foremost fighting 
privateersman of Salem during the Revolution, and one of the 
ablest men that fought in that w^ar, afloat or ashore. His deeds 
are well-nigh forgotten by his countrymen, yet he captured one 
thousand cannon in British ships and counted his prizes by the 
score. 

Jonathan Haraden was born in Gloucester, but as a boy was 
employed by George Cabot of Salem and made his home there 
for the remainder of his life. He followed the sea from his 
early youth, and had risen to a command in the merchant 
service when the Revolution began. The Massachusetts 
Colony placed two small vessels in commission as State vessels 
of war, and aboard one of these, the Tyrannicide, Jonathan 
Haraden was appointed lieutenant. On her first cruise, very 
early in the war, she fought a king's cutter from Halifax for 
New York. The British craft carried a much heavier crew than 
the Tyrannicide, but the Yankee seamen took her after a brisk 
engagement in which their gunnery was notably destructive. 

Soon after this, Haraden was promoted to the command of 
this audacious sloop of the formidable name, but he desired 
greater freedom of action, A Salem merchant ship, the General 
Pickering, of 180 tons, was fitting out as a letter of marque, and 

78 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateer sman 

Haraden was offered the command. With a cargo of sugar, 
fourteen six-pounders and forty-five men and boys he sailed 
for Bilboa in the spring of 1780. This port of Spain was a 
popular rendezvous for American privateers, where they were 
close to the British trade routes. During the voyage across, 
before his crew had been hammered into shape, Haraden was 
attacked by a British cutter of twenty guns, but managed to beat 
her off and proceeded on his way after a two hours' running fight. 

He was a man of superb coolness and audacity and he showed 
these qualities to advantage while tacking into the Bay of Biscay. 
At nightfall he sighted a British privateer, the Golden Eagle, 
considerably larger than the Pickering, and carrying at least 
eight more guns. Instead of crowding on sail and shifting his 
course to avoid her, he set after her in the darkness and steered 
alongside. Before the enemy could decide whether to fight 
or run away Haraden was roaring through his speaking trumpet : 

"What ship is this? An American frigate, Sir. Strike, or 
I'll sink you with a broadside." 

The British privateer skipper was bewildered by this startling 
summons and surrendered without firing a shot. A prize- 
master was put on board and at daylight both vessels laid their 
course for Bilboa. As they drew near the harbor, a sail was 
sighted making out from the land. All strange sails were under 
suspicion in that era of sea life, and Captain Haraden made 
ready to clear his ship for action even before the English cap- 
tain, taken out of the prize, cheerfully carried him word that 
he knew the stranger to be the Achilles, a powerful and success- 
ful privateer hailing from London, carrying more than forty 
guns and at least a hundred and fifty men. The description 
might have been that of a formidable sloop of war rather than 
a privateer, and the British skipper was at no pains to hide his 
satisfaction at the plight of the Yankee with her fourteen six- 
pounders and her handful of men. 

79 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

At the sight of an enemy thrice his fighting strength, Captain 
Haraden told the EngUsh captain: 

"Be that as it may, and you seem sure of your information, 
I shan't run away from her." 

The wind so held that the Achilles first bore down upon the 
prize of the Pickering and was able to recapture and put a 
prize crew aboard before Captain Haraden could fetch with 
gunshot. With a British lieutenant from the Achilles in com- 
mand, the prize was ordered to follow her captor. It was 
evident to the waiting Americans aboard the Pickering that 
the Achilles intended forcing an engagement, but night was 
falling and the English privateer bore off as if purposing to 
convoy her prize beyond harm's way and postpone pursuit until 
morning. 

The hostile ships had been sighted from Bilboa harbor where 
the Achilles was well known, and the word swiftly passed 
through the city that the bold American was holding pluckily 
to her landfall as if preparing for an attempt to recapture her 
prize. The wind had died during the late afternoon and by 
sunset thousands of Spaniards and seamen from the vessels in 
the harbor had swarmed to crowd the headlands and the water's 
edge where they could see the towering Achilles and her smaller 
foe "like ships upon a painted ocean." An eye witness, Robert 
Cowan, said that "the General Pickering in comparison to her 
antagonist looked like a long boat by the side of a ship." 

Because of lack of wind and the maneuvers of the Achilles, 
Captain Haraden thought there was no danger of an attack 
during the night, and he turned in to sleep without more ado, 
after ordering the officer of the watch to have him called if the 
Achilles drew nearer. His serene composure had its bracing 
effect upon the spirits of the men. At dawn the captain was 
awakened from a sound slumber by the news that the Achilles 
was bearing down upon them with her crew at quarters. " He 

80 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

calmly rose, went on deck as if it had been some ordinary occa- 
sion," and ordered his ship made ready for action. 

We know that he was a man of commanding appearance and 
an unruffled demeanor; the kind of fighting sailor who liked 
to have things done handsomely and with due regard for the 
effect of such matters upon his seamen. 

Several of his crew had been transferred to the prize, and 
were now prisoners to the Achilles. The forty-five defenders 
being reduced to thirty-odd, Captain Haraden, in an eloquent 
and persuasive address to the sixty prisoners he had captured 
in the Golden Eagle, offered large rewards to volunteers who 
would enlist with the crew of the Pickering. A boatswain 
and ten men, whose ties of loyalty to the British flag must have 
been tenuous in the extreme, stepped forward and were assigned 
to stations with the American crew. Her strength was thus 
increased to forty-seven men and boys. The captain then 
made a final tour of the decks, assuring his men that although 
the Achilles appeared to be superior in force, " he had no doubt 
they would beat her if they were firm and steady, and did not 
throw away their fire." One of his orders to the men with 
small arms was : " Take particular aim at their white boot tops. " 

The kind of sea fighting that won imperishable prestige for 
American seamen belongs with a vanished era of history. As 
the gun crews of the General Pickering clustered behind their 
open ports, they saw to it that water tubs were in place, matches 
lighted, the crowbars, handspikes and "spung staves" and 
"rope spunges" placed in order by the guns. Then as they 
made ready to deliver the first broadside, the orders ran down 
the crowded low-beamed deck: 

"Cast, off the tackles and breechings." 

"Seize the breechings." 

"Unstop the touch-hole." 

"Ram home wad and cartridge." 

81 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

"Shot the gun-wad." 

"Run out the gun." 

"Lay down handspikes and crows." 

"Point your gun." 

"Fire." 

The Yankee crew could hear the huzzas of the EngHsh gunners 
as the Achilles sought to gain the advantage of position. Cap- 
tain Haraden had so placed his ship between the land and a 
line of shoals, that in closing with him the Achilles must receive 
a raking broadside fire. He knew that if it came to boarding, 
his little band must be overwhelmed by weight of numbers and 
he showed superb seamanship in choosing and maintaining a 
long range engagement. 

The Pickering was still deep laden with sugar, and this, 
together with her small size, made her a difficult target to hull, 
while the Achilles towered above water like a small frigate. 
The Americans fired low, while the English broadsides flew 
high across the decks of the Pickering. This rain of fire killed 
the British volunteer boatswain aboard the Pickering and 
wounded eight of the crew early in the fight. Captain Haraden 
was exposed to these showers of case and round shot, but one 
of his crew reported that "all the time he was as calm and 
steady as amid a shower of snowflakes." 

Meanwhile a multitude of spectators, estimated to number at 
least a hundred thousand, had assembled on shore. The city 
of Bilboa had turned out en masse to enjoy the rare spectacle 
of a dashing sea duel fought in the blue amphitheater of the 
harbor mouth. They crowded into fishing boats, pinnaces, 
cutters and row boats until from within a short distance of the 
smoke-shrouded Pickering the gay flotilla stretched to the shore 
so closely packed that an onlooker described it as a solid bridge 
of boats, across which a man might have made his way by 
leaping from one gunwale to another. 

82 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

Captain Haraden was on the defensive. The stake for which 
he fought was to gain entrance to the port of Bilboa with his 
cargo and retake his prize, nor did he need to capture the 
Achilles to win a most signal victory. For two hours the two 
privateers were at it hammer and tongs, the British ship unable 
to outmaneuver the Yankee and the latter holding her vantage 
ground. At length the commander of the Achilles was forced 
to decide that he must either run away or be sunk where he was. 
He had been hulled through and through and his rigging was 
so cut up that it was with steadily increasing difficulty that he 
was able to avoid a raking from every broadside of his indomi- 
table foe. It is related that he decided to run immediately 
after a flight of crowbars, with which the guns of the Pickering 
had been crammed to the muzzles, made hash of his decks and 
drove his gunners from their stations. 

Captain Haraden made sail in chase. He offered his gunners 
a cash reward if they should be able to carry away a spar and 
disable the Achilles so that he might draw up alongside the 
enemy and renew the engagement. His fighting blood was 
at boiling heat and he no longer thought of making for Bilboa 
and thanking his lucky stars that he had gotten clear of so 
ugly a foe. But the Achilles was light, while her mainsail 
"was large as a ship of the line," and after a chase of three 
hours, the General Pickering had been distanced. Captain 
Haraden sorrowfully put about for Bilboa, and took some small 
satisfaction in his disappointment by overhauling and retaking 
the Golden Eagle, the prize which had been the original bone of 
contention. 

The prize had been in sight of the action, during which the 
captured American prizemaster, master John Carnes, enjoyed 
an interesting conversation with the British prizemaster from 
the Achilles who had been placed in charge of the vessel. 

Mr. Carnes informed his captor of the fighting strength of 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

the General Pickering. The British prizemaster rubbed his 
eyes when he saw the httle Yankee vessel engage the Achilles 
and roundly swore that Carnes had lied to him. The latter 
stuck to his guns, however, and added by way of confirmation : 

"If you knew Captain Jonathan Haraden as well as I do, 
you would not be surprised at this. It is just what I expected, 
and I think it not impossible, notwithstanding the disparity of 
force, that the Achilles will at least be beaten off, and I shall 
have the command of this prize again before night." 

The Spanish populace welcomed Captain Haraden ashore as 
if he had been the hero of a bull fight. He was carried through 
the streets at the head of a triumphant procession and later 
compelled to face veritable broadsides of dinners and public 
receptions. His battle with the Achilles had been rarely spec- 
tacular and theatrical, and at sight of one of his elaborately 
embroidered waistcoats to-day, displayed in the Essex Institute, 
one fancies that he may have had the fondness for doing fine 
things in a fine way which made Nelson pin his medals on his 
coat before he went into action at Trafalgar. 

In a narrative compiled from the stories of those who knew 
and sailed with this fine figure of a privateersman we are told 
that "in his person he was tall and comely; his countenance 
was placid, and his manners and deportment mild. His 
discipline on board ship was excellent, especially in time of 
action. Yet in the common concerns of life he was easy almost 
to a fault. So great was the confidence he inspired that if he 
but looked at a sail through his glass, and then told the helms- 
man to steer for her, the observation went round, ' If she is an 
enemy, she is ours.' His great characteristic was the most 
consummate self-possession on all occasions and in midst of 
perils, in which if any man equalled, none ever excelled him. 
His ofiicers and men insisted he was more calm and cool amid 
the din of battle than at any other time; and the more deadly 

84 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

the strife, the more imminent the peril, the more terrific the 
scene, the more perfect his self-command and serene intrepidity. 
In a word he was a hero." 

Large and resonant words of tribute these, written in the long 
ago, and yet they are no fulsome eulogy of Jonathan Haraden 
of Salem. 

During another voyage from Salem to France as a letter of 
marque, the Pickering discovered, one morning at daylight, a 
great English ship of the line looming within cannon shot. The 
enemy bore down in chase, but did not open fire, expecting to 
capture the Yankee cockleshell without having to injure her. 
He was fast overhauling the quarry, and Captain Haraden 
manned his sweeps. The wind was light and although one 
ball fired from a bowchaser sheared off three of his sweeps, or 
heavy oars, he succeeded in rowing away from his pursuer and 
made his escape. It was not a fight, but the incident goes to 
show how small by modern standards was the ship in which 
Jonathan Haraden made his dauntless way, when he could 
succeed in rowing her out of danger of certain capture. 

In his early voyages in the Pickering she was commissioned 
as a letter of marque, carrying cargoes across the Atlantic, and 
fetching home provisions and munitions needed in the Colonies, 
but ready to fight "at the drop of the hat." She was later 
equipped with a slightly heavier armament and commissioned 
as a full-fledged privateer. With his sixteen guns Captain 
Haraden fought and took in one action no less than three 
British ships carrying a total number of forty-two guns. He 
made the briefest possible mention in his log of a victory which 
in its way was as remarkable as the triumph of the Constitution 
over the Cyane and the Levant in the second war with England. 

It was while cruising as a privateer that the Pickering came 
in sight of three armed vessels sailing in company from Halifax 
to New York. This little squadron comprised a brig of four- 

85 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

teen guns, a ship of sixteen guns and a sloop of twelve guns. 
They presented a formidable array of force, the ship alone 
appearing to be a match for the Pickering in guns and men as 
they exchanged signals with each other, formed a line and 
made ready for action. "Great as was the confidence of the 
officers and crew in the bravery and judgment of Captain Hara- 
den, they evinced, by their looks, that they thought on this 
occasion he was going to hazard too much; upon which he told 
them he had no doubt whatever that if they would do their 
duty, he would quickly capture the three vessels, and this he 
did with great ease by going alongside of each of them, one 
after another." 

This unique feat in the history of privateering actions was 
largely due to Captain Haraden's seamanship in that he was 
able so to handle the Pickering that he fought three successive 
single ship actions instead of permitting the enemy to concen- 
trate or combine their attack. 

Somewhat similar to these tactics was the manner in which 
he took two privateer sloops while he was cruising off Bermuda. 
They were uncommonly fast and agile vessels and they annoyed 
the Yankee skipper by retaking several of his prizes before he 
could send them free of this molestation. The sloops had no 
mind to risk an action with Haraden whose vessel they had 
recognized. So after nightfall he sent down his fore topgallant 
yard and mast, otherwise disguised the Pickering, and vanished 
from that part of the seas. A day later he put about and jogged 
back after the two privateers, putting out drags astern to check 
his speed. The Pickering appeared to be a plodding merchant- 
man lumbering along a West India course. 

As soon as he was sighted by his pestiferous and deluded 
foes, they set out in chase of him as easy booty. Letting the 
first sloop come with easy range, Jonathan Haraden stripped 
the Pickering of the painted canvas screens that had covered 

86 








I ^ 






Jonathan Ilaraden, Privateersman 

her gun ports, let go a murderous broadside and captured the 
sloop almost as soon as it takes to tell it. Then showing English 
colors above the Stars and Stripes aboard the Pickering, as if 
she had been captured, he went after the consort and look her 
as neatly as he had gathered the other. 

Captain Haraden knew how to play the gentleman in this 
bloody game of war on the ocean. An attractive light is thrown 
upon his character by an incident which happened during a 
cruise in the Pickering. He fell in with a humble Yankee 
trading schooner which had been to the West Indies with 
lumber and was jogging home with the beggarly proceeds of 
the voyage. Her skipper signaled Captain Haraden, put out a 
boat and went aboard the privateer to tell a tale of woe. A 
little while before he had been overhauled by a British letter 
of marque schooner which had robbed him of his quadrant, 
compass and provisions, stripped his craft of much of her rig- 
gings, and with a curse and a kick from her captain, left him to 
drift and starve. 

Captain Haraden was very indignant at such wanton and 
impolite conduct and at once sent his men aboard the schooner 
to re-rig her, provisioned her cabin and forecastle, loaned the 
skipper instruments with which to work his passage home and 
sent him on his way rejoicing. Then having inquired the 
course of the plundering letter of marque when last seen, he 
made sail to look for her. He was lucky enough to fall in and 
capture the offender next day. Captain Haraden dressed him- 
self in his best and, to add dignity to the occasion, summoned 
the erring British skipper to his cabin and there roundly rebuked 
and denounced him for his piratical conduct toward a worthless 
little lumber schooner. He gave his own crew permission to 
make reprisals, which probably means that they helped them- 
selves to whatever pleased their fancy and kicked and cuffed 
the offending seamen the length of their deck. Captain Hara- 

87 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

den then allowed the letter of marque to resume her voyage. 
" He would not, even under these circumstances, sink or destroy 
a ship worthless as a prize and thus ruin a brother sailor." 

Off the Capes of the Delaware, Captain Haraden once cap- 
tured an English brig of war, although the odds were against 
him, by "the mere terror of his name." He afterward told 
friends ashore how this extraordinary affair occurred. There 
was a boy on the Pickering, one of the captain's most ardent 
adorers, a young hero worshiper, who believed the Pickering 
capable of taking anything short of a line-of-battle ship. He 
had been put aboard a prize off the Capes, which prize had 
been captured, while making port, by the British brig-of-war. 
The lad was transferred to the brig with his comrades of the 
prize crew, and was delighted a little later to see the Pickering 
standing toward them. Being asked why he sang and danced 
with joy, the boy explained with the most implicit assurance: 

"That is my master in that ship, and I shall soon be with 
him." 

"Your master," cried, the British bos'n, "and who in the 
devil is he.''" 

" Why, Captain Haraden. You can't tell me you never heard 
of him? He takes everything he goes alongside of, and he will 
soon have you." 

This unseemly jubilation on an enemy's deck was reported 
to the captain of the brig. He summoned the boy aft, and was 
told the same story with even more emphasis. Presently the 
Pickering ran close down, and approached the brig to leeward. 
There was a strong wind and the listed deck of the brig lay 
exposed to the fire of the privateer. Captain Haraden shouted 
through his trumpet: 

"Haul down your colors, or I will fire into you." 

The captain of the brig-of-war had wasted precious moments, 
and his vessel was so situated at that moment that her guns could 

88 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

not be worked to leeward because of the seas that swept along 
her ports. After a futile fire from deck swivels and small arms, 
she surrendered and next day was anchored off Philadelphia. 

One or two more stories and we must needs have done with 
the exploits of Jonathan Haraden. One of them admirably 
illustrates the sublime assurance of the man and in an extreme 
degree that dramatic quality which adorned his deeds. During 
one of his last voyages in the Pickering he attacked a heavily 
armed "king's mail packet," bound to England from the West 
Indies. These packets were of the largest type of merchant 
vessels of that day, usually carrying from fifteen to twenty guns, 
and complements of from sixty to eighty men. Such a ship 
was expected to fight hard and was more than a match for most 
privateers. 

The king's packet was a foe to test Captain Haraden 's mettle 
and he found her a tough antagonist. They fought four full 
hours, "or four glasses," as the log records it, after which 
Captain Haraden found that he must haul out of the action and 
repair damages to rigging and hull. He discovered also, that 
he had used all the powder on board except one charge. It 
would have been a creditable conclusion of the matter if he 
had called the action a drawn battle and gone on his way. 

It was in his mind, however, to try an immensely audacious 
plan which could succeed only by means of the most cold- 
blooded courage on his part. Ramming home his last charge 
of powder and double shotting the gun, he again ranged along- 
side his plucky enemy, who was terribly cut up, but still uncon- 
quered, and hailed her: 

"I will give you five minutes to haul down your colors. If 
they are not down at the end of that time, I will fire into and 
sink you, so help me God." 

It was a test of mind, not of armament. The British com- 
mander was a brave man who had fought his ship like a hero. 

89 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

But the sight of this infernally indomitable figure on the quarter- 
deck of the shot-rent Pickering, the thought of being exposed 
to another broadside at pistol range, the aspect of the blood- 
stained, half -naked privateersmen grouped at their guns with 
matches lighted, was too much for him. Captain Haraden 
stood, watch in hand, calling off the minutes so that his voice 
could be heard aboard the packet : 

"One—" 

"Two—" 

"Three." 

But he had not said " Four," when the British colors fluttered 
down from the yard and the packet ship was his. 

Wlien a boat from the Pickering went alongside the prize, 
the crew " found the blood running from her scuppers, while the 
deck appeared more like the floor of a slaughter house than the 
deck of a ship. On the quarterdeck, in an armchair, sat an old 
gentleman, the Governor of the island from which the packet 
came. During the whole action he had loaded and fired a heavy 
blunderbuss, and in the course of the battle had received a ball in 
his cheek, which, in consequence of the loss of teeth, had passed 
out through the other cheek without giving a mortal wound." 

A truly splendid "old gentleman" and a hero of the first 
water ! 

In the latter part of the war Captain Haraden commanded 
the Julius Cwsar, and a letter written by an American in Mar- 
tinique in 1782 to a friend in Salem is evidence that his activities 
had not diminished: 

" Captain Jonathan Haraden, in the letter of marque ship, 
Julius Coesar, forty men and fourteen guns, off Bermuda, in sight 
of two English brigs, one of twenty and the other of sixteen guns, 
took a schooner which was a prize to one of them, but they both 
declined to attack him. On the 5th ult., he fell in with two 
British vessels, being a ship of eighteen guns and a brig of six- 

90 



Jonathan Haraderi, Privateersman 

teen, both of which he fought five hours and got clear of them. 
The enemy's ship was much shattered and so was the Ccesar, 
but the latter s men were unharmed. Captain Haraden was 
subsequently presented with a silver plate by the owners of his 
ship, as commemorative of his bravery and skill. Before he 
reached Martinico he had a severe battle with another English 
vessel which he carried thither with him as a prize." 

Captain Haraden, the man who took a thousand cannon from 
the British on the high seas, died in Salem in 1803 in his fifty- 
ninth year. His descendants treasure the massive pieces of 
plate given him by the owners of the Pickering and the Julius 
Ccesar, as memorials of one who achieved far more to win the 
independence of his nation than many a landsman whose 
military records won him the recognition of his government 
and a conspicuous place in history. 

While the important ports of Boston, New York, and others 
to the southward were blockaded by squadrons of British war 
vessels, the Salem privateers managed to slip to sea and spread 
destruction. It happened on a day of March, in 1781, that two 
bold English privateers were cruising off Cape Cod, menacing 
the coastwise trading sloops and schooners bound in and out 
of Salem and nearby ports. The news was carried ashore by 
incoming vessels which had been compelled to run for it, and 
through the streets and along the wharves of Salem went the 
call for volunteers. The ships Brutus and Neptune were lying 
in the stream and with astonishing expedition they were armed 
and made ready for sea as privateers. 

One of the enemy's vessels was taken and brought into Salem 
only two days after the alarm had been given. Tradition relates 
that while the two Salem privateers were sailing home in com- 
pany with their prize, the Brutus was hailed by an English 
sloop which had been loitering the coast on mischief bent. 
Tlie Yankee skippers seeking to get their prize into port without 

91 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

risk of losing her in battle, had hoisted English colors. Dusk 
had deepened into darkness when from the quarterdeck of the 
British sloop sounded the husky challenge: 

" Ship ahoy. What ship is that?" 

"The English armed ship Terror," answered the Salem cap- 
tain. 

"Where are you bound?" 

"Just inside the Cape for safety." 

"Safety from what?" asked the guileless Englishman. 

"A whole fleet of damned Yankee privateers." 

"Where are they?" 

"They bear from the pitch of the Cape, about sou 'east by 
East, four leagues distant." 

"Aye, aye, we'll look out for them and steer clear," returned 
John Bull, and thereupon with a free wind he stood out to sea 
leaving the Brutus to lay her course without more trouble. 

Not all the Salem privateers were successful. In fairness to 
the foe it should be recorded that one in three, or fifty-four in a 
total of one hundred and fifty-eight privateers and letter of 
marque ships were lost by capture during the war. Many of 
these, however, were scarcely more than decked rowboats 
armed with one gun and a few muskets. But of the four hun- 
dred and forty-five prizes taken by Salem ships, nine-tenths of 
them reached American ports in safety. 

There was a lad who had been captured in a Salem privateer, 
and forced to enlist in the English navy. He was not of that 
heroic mold which preferred death to surrender and the hard- 
ships of prison life appear to have frightened him into changing 
his colors. He wrote home to Salem in 1781 : 

"Honoured Father and Mother: 

" I send you these few lines to let you know that I am in good 
health on board the Hyeane Frigate which I was taken by and 

92 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

I hope I shall be at home in a few months' time. When I was 
taken by the Hyeane I was carried to England, where I left the 
ship and went on board a brig going to New York. There I 
was prest out of her into the Phoenix, forty-eight gun ship. I 
remained in her four months and was then taken on board the 
Hyeane again, where I am still kept. We are lying in Carlisle 
Bay in Barbadoes. W^e are now going on an expedition, but 
will soon be back again when the captain says he will let me 
come home." 

Alas, the boy who had weakened when it came to the test of 
his loyalty was not so well pleased with his choice when peace 
came. In August, 1783, we find him writing to his mother: 

"I cannot think of returning home till the people of New 
England are more reconciled, for I hear they are so inveterate 
against all who have ever been in the English navy that I can't 
tell but their rage may extend to hang me as they do others." 

Another letter of that time, while it does not deal wholly with 
privateering, views the war from the interesting standpoint of a 
Loyalist or Tory of Salem who was writing to friends of like 
sympathies who had also taken refuge in England. It is to be 
inferred from his somewhat caustic comments about certain 
nouveaux riche families of the town that the fortunes of privateer- 
ing had suddenly prospered some, while it had beggared the 
estate of others. 

"Bristol, England, February 10, 1780. 
"Perhaps it may amuse you to be made acquainted with a 
few particulars of our own country and town, that may not have 
come to your knowledge. . . . It is a melancholy truth 
that while some are wallowing in undeserved wealth that plunder 
and Rapine has thrown into their hands, the wisest and most 
peacable, and most deserving, such as you and I know, are now 
suffering for want, accompanied by many indignities that a 

93 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

licencious and lawless people can pour forth upon them. Those 
who a few years ago were the meaner people are now by a Strange 
Revolution become almost the only men in Power, riches and 
influences ; those who on the contrary were leaders in the highest 
line of life are very glad at this time to be unknown and unno- 
ticed, to escape insult and plunder and the wretched condition 
of all who are not Violent Adopters of Republican Principles. 
The Cabots of Beverly, who you know had but five years ago 
a very moderate share of property are now said to be by far the 
most wealthy in New England. . . . Nathan Goodale by 
an agency concern in Privateers and buying up Shares, counts 
almost as many pounds as most of his neighbors." 

What may be called the day's work of the Revolutionary 
privateers is compactly outlined in the following series of 
reports from Salem annals. In an unfinished manuscript deal- 
ing with privateering the late James Kimball of Salem made 
this note: 

" June 26, 1857. This day saw John W. Osgood, son of 
John Osgood, who stated that during the war of the Revolution 
his father was first Lieutenant of the Brig Fame commanded 
by Samuel Hobbs of Salem, from whence they sailed. When 
three days out they fell in with a British man-of-war which 
gave chase to the Privateer which outsailed the man-of-war, 
who, finding that she was getting away from him, fired a round 
shot which came on board and killed Captain Hobbs, which 
was the only injury sustained during the chase. 

" Upon the death of Captain Hobbs the crew mutinied, saying 
the captain was dead, and the cruise was up, refused further 
duty and insisted upon returning to Salem. Lieutenant Osgood 
now becoming the captain, persisted in continuing the Cruise, 
yet with so small a number as remained on his side, found great 
difiiculty in working the Ship. The mutineers stood in fear, 

94 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

but part of the officers stood by Captain Osgood. No one 
feeling willing to appear at their head, they one day Sent him 
a Round Robin requiring the return of the Privateer. Captain 
Osgood still persisted in continuing the cruise. 

"When an English Vessell hove in sight he told them that 
there was a Prize, that they had only to take her and he would 
soon find others. One of the Crew, to the leader to whom they 
all looked, replied that he would return to his duty. All the 
rest followed him, sail was made and they soon came up with 
the Prize. She proved to be a man-of-war in disguise, with 
drags out. As soon as this was discovered the Privateer at- 
tempted to escape, but she could not and was captured and 
carried to Halifax." 

Selecting other typical incidents almost at random as they 
were condensed in newspaper records, these seem to be worthy 
of notice: 

"June 31, 1778. Much interest is made here for the release 
of Resolved Smith from his captivity. On his way from the 
West Indies to North Carolina he was taken, and confined on 
board the prison ship Judith at New York. Describing his 
situation, he said that he and other sufferers were shut in 
indiscriminately with the sick, dead and dying. 'I am now 
closing the eyes of the last two out of five healthy men that 
came about three weeks ago with me on board this ship. 

"July, 1779. The Brig Wild Cat, Captain Daniel Ropes, 
seventy-five men, fourteen guns, is reported as having taken a 
schooner belonging to the British navy. The next day, how- 
ever, he was captured by a frigate and for his activity against 
the enemy was confined in irons at Halifax. On hearing of his 
severe treatment, our General Court ordered that an English 
officer of equal rank be put in close confinement until Captain 
Ropes is liberated and exchanged." 

"Feb. 13, 1781. Ship Pilgrim, Captain Robinson, reported 

95 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

that on Christmas Day he had a battle with a Spanish Frigate 
and forced her to retire, and on January 5th engaged a privateer 
of thirty-three men, twenty-two guns, for three hours and took 
her. He had nine men killed and two wounded while his 
opponent had her captain and four more killed and thirteen 
wounded." 

"March 13, 1781. It is reported that the Brig Montgomery, 
Captain John Carnes, had engaged a large British cutter, lost 
his lieutenant and had five wounded. From another account 
we learn that after a hard fight he succeeded in beating his 
opponent off." 

" It is reported on the 19th of the same month that the ship 
Franklin, Captain John Turner, had taken a ship after a fight 
of forty minutes, having had one killed and one wounded. 
The prize had two killed and eight wounded." 

"August 26, 1781. The ship Marquis de Lafayette, seventy- 
five men and sixteen guns, reported as having attacked a brig of 
thirty-two guns, upwards of two hours, but was obliged to draw 
off, much damaged, with eight killed and fourteen wounded 
and leaving the enemy with seventeen killed besides others 
wounded." 

Privateering was destined to have a powerful influence upon 
the seafaring fortunes of Salem. Elias Hasket Derby, for 
example, the first great American shipping merchant and the 
wealthiest man in the Colonies, found his trading activities 
ruined by the Revolution. He swung his masterly energy and 
large resources into equipping privateers. It was his standing 
offer that after as many shares as possible had been subscribed 
for in financing any Salem privateer, he would take up the 
remainder, if more funds were needed. It is claimed that Mr» 
Derby was interested in sending to sea more than one-half of 
the one hundred and fifty-eight privateers which hailed from 
Salem during the Revolution. After the first two years of war 

96 



Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman 

he discerned the importance of speed, and that many of the 
small privateers of his town had been lost or captured because 
they were unfit for their business. He established his own 
shipyards, studied naval architecture, and began to build a class 
of vessels vastly superior in size, model and speed to any pre- 
viously launched in the Colonies. They were designed to be 
able to meet a British sloop of war on even terms. 

These ships took a large number of prizes, but Elias Hasket 
Derby gradually converted them from privateers to letters of 
marque, so that they could carry cargoes to distant ports and 
at the same time defend themselves against the largest class of 
British privateers. At the beginning of the war he owned 
seven sloops and schooners. When peace came he had four 
ships of from three hundred to three hundred and fifty tons, 
which were very imposing merchant vessels for that time- 
It was with these ships, created by the needs of war, that the 
commerce of Salem began to reach out for ports on the other 
side of the world. They were the vanguard of the great fleet 
which through the two generations to follow were to carry the 
Stars and Stripes around the Seven Seas. Ready to man them 
was the bold company of privateersmen, schooled in a life of 
the most hazardous adventure, braced to face all risks in the 
peaceful war for trade where none of their countrymen had 
ever dared to seek trade before. While they had been dealing 
shrewd blows for their country's cause in war, they had been 
also in preparation for the dawning age of Salem supremacy on 
the seas in the rivalries of commerce, pioneers in a brilliant and 
romantic era which was destined to win unique fame for their 
port. 



97 



CHAPTER VI 

CAPTAIN LUTHER LITTLE 's OWN STORY 

(1771-1799) 

CAPTAIN LUTHER LITTLE made no great figure in 
the history of his times, but he left in his own words the 
story of his Hfe at sea which ancient manuscript con- 
tributes a full length portrait of the kind of men who lived in 
the coastwise towns of New England in the eighteenth century. 
He was not of Salem birth, but he commanded a letter of marque 
ship out of Salem during the Revolution, which makes it fitting 
that the manuscript of his narrative should have come into the 
hands of his grandson, Philip Little, of Salem. This old time 
seaman's memoir, as he dictates it in his old age, reflects and 
makes alive again the day's work of many a stout-hearted 
ship's company of forgotten xAinerican heroes. 

Born in Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1756, Luther Little 
was a sturdy man grown at the beginning of the Revolution 
and had already spent five years at sea. At the age of fifteen 
he forsook his father's farm and shipped on board a coasting 
sloop plying between Maine and the South Carolina ports. 
On one of these voyages he was taken ill with a fever and was 
left ashore in a settlement on the Pimlico River, North Carolina. 
The planter's family who cared for the lad through his long 
and helpless illness were big-hearted and cheery folk, and his 
description of a "reaping bee," as enjoyed a hundred and forty 
years ago, is quaintly diverting. 

98 



Captain Luther Little's Own Storij 

"When the evening amusements began our host performed 
on the vioHn and the young people commenced dancing. I was 
brought down stairs by one of the daughters and placed on a 
chair in one corner of the room to witness their sports. They 
got so merry in the dance that I was unheeded, and they whirled 
so hard against me as to knock me from my chair. One of 
the young women caught me in her arms, and carried me to the 
chamber and laid me on the mat. They held their frolic until 
midnight and eight or ten of the girls tarried till morning. My 
mat lay in one corner of the garret, and they were to occupy 
another on the opposite side. When they came upstairs they 
commenced performing a jumping match after making prepara- 
tions for the same by taking off some of their clothes. They 
performed with much agility, when one of the stranger girls 
observing me in one comer of the garret exclaimed with much 
surprise: 'Who is that?' The answer was : 'It's only a young 
man belonging to the North that is here sick, and won't live 
three days. Never mind him.' " 

His sloop having returned, this sixteen-year-old sailor sur- 
prised his kind host by gaining sufficient strength to go on board 
and soon after set sail for Martinique in the West Indies. The 
Revolutionary Committee of North Carolina had ordered the 
captain to fetch back a supply of powder and shot. He took 
aboard this cargo after driving overboard and threatening to 
blow out the brains of an English lieutenant who had it in mind 
to make a prize of the sloop while she lay at Martinique. 

It was out of the frying pan into the fire, for when the vessel 
reached the Carolina coast, "the news of our unexpected arrival 
had been noised abroad," relates Luther Little, "and the 
King's tender lay within a few miles of the bar in wait for us. 
Twelve pilot boats from Ocrakoke came off to us and informed 
us that the tender was coming out to take us. We loaded the 
pilot boats with powder, and the balls, which were in kegs, we 

99 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

hove overboard. By this time the tender made her appearance 
and ordered us all on board, made a prize of the sloop and 
ordered her for Norfolk where lay the English fleet. When our 
pilot and his crew went to take their boat I mingled with them 
and walked quietly on board without being observed, and set 
hard at rowing with one of the oars. The captain and the rest 
of the crew were made prisoners." 

The pilot boat landed young Little at Ocrakoke, where he 
found that the other pilots who had taken the powder ashore 
had stolen ten casks of it, scurvy patriots that they were. So 
the stout-hearted lad of sixteen borrowed an old musket and 
stood guard all night over the powder kegs. " The next morn- 
ing," he tells us, "the pilots finding they could plunder no more 
of the powder, agreed to carry it up the Pimlico River to the 
several County Committees for whom it was destined." Luther 
Little went with them and saw to it that the powder reached 
its owners. 

One Colonel Simpson offered him a small schooner laden 
with com to be delivered down the Pongo River. She had a 
crew of slaves which the boy skipper loftily rejected and took 
his little schooner single-handed downstream, making port 
after a two days' voyage. While at anchor there came a hurri- 
cane which had a most surprising eft'ect on his fortunes. "I 
shut myself down in the cabin," said he, "and in the course of 
the night found the vessel adrift. Not daring to go on deck I 
waited the result and soon felt the vessel strike. After thumping 
a while she keeled to one side and remained still. At daylight 
next morning I ventured on deck and found myself safe on 
terra firma, in the woods, one half mile from the water, the tide 
having left me safe among the trees." 

Making his way on foot to the home of the consignee, he 
reported his arrival, explained the situation and wrote his 
employer that he had delivered his cargo safe, and that he 

100 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

would find his schooner half a mile in the woods anchored 
safely among the trees. 

The marooned seaman had not to wait long for another 
berth. On the same day of his escape he saw a sloop beating 
out of the river and hailed her skipper. A foremast hand was 
wanted and Little shipped aboard for the West Indies. During 
the passage they were chased by an English frigate, and ran in 
under the guns of the Dutch fort at St. Eustacia. Cargo and 
vessel were sold, and Luther Little transferred himself to 
another sloop bound for Rhode Island. 

"Arriving safe after a passage of eleven days," he ^^Tites, 
" I took my pack and travelled to Little Compton where I had 
an uncle. Here I stayed one week, and then marched home on 
foot, the distance of seventy miles, without one cent in my 
pocket. I had been absent eleven months." 

A few months later Luther Little shipped on board a letter 
of marque brig bound to Cadiz. Off Cape Finnesterre a storm 
piled the vessel on the rocks where she went to pieces. Little 
was washed over the bows, but caught a trailing rope and 
hauled himself aboard with a broken leg. While he was in 
this plight the brig broke in two, and somehow, with the help of 
his fellow seamen, he was conveyed ashore to a Spanish coast 
fortification. Thence they were taken by boat to Bellisle. The 
infant Uncle Sam was not wholly neglectful of his subjects, 
even though he was in the death-grip of a Revolution, for to the 
inn at Bellisle there came " a coach with four white horses and 
Mr. John Baptiste, an officer in the employ of the United States 
government, to enquire if there were any from off that wreck 
who needed assistance and wished to go to the hospital." 

Luther Little lay in a hospital at Lisbon from autumn into 
spring where, he relates: "I was treated with great kindness 
and attention and although in my midnight dreams the spirits 
of a kind mother and beloved sisters would often hover around 

101 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

my pillow, still on waking, the thought that I had escaped an 
early death was ever present to the mind, and I felt that although 
far from home and friends, I had every reason to be thankful." 

The canny youngster had a shoe with a hollow heel, which 
hiding place he had prepared before leaving home, and in 
which he had tucked eight gold dollars with this sagacious 
reflection : 

"Previous to this I had been left among strangers perfectly 
destitute without money either to assist myself, or to remunerate 
them for kindness received. I was now leaving home again, 
the future was covered with a veil which a wise Providence 
had never permitted human knowledge to rend. I knew not 
with what this voyage might be fraught — evil or good. I 
therefore resolved if possible to have something laid up as the 
old adage expresses, 'for a wet day.'" 

When Luther was discharged from the Spanish hospital 
eleven other luckless American seamen who had been cast on 
their beam ends were set adrift with him. The shoe with the 
hollow heel held the only cash in the party who undertook an 
overland journey of three hundred miles to the nearest seaport 
whence they might expect to find passage home. While spend- 
ing the night at a port called St. Ubes there came ashore the 
captain and lieutenant of an English privateer. These were 
very courteous foemen, for the captain told how he had been 
made prisoner by a Yankee crew, carried into Salem, and 
treated so exceedingly well that he was very grateful. There- 
upon he ordered his lieutenant to go off to the privateer and 
fetch a dozen of pickled neats' tongues which he gave the 
stranded pilgrims to put in their packs. He also turned over 
to them a Portuguese pilot to escort them through the desolate 
and hostile country in which their journey lay. With the 
Portuguese, the neats' tongues, and wine in leather bottles, 
paid for from the hollow heel, the American tars trudged along, 

102 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

sleeping on the ground and in shepherds' sheds until they 
reached the boundary between Spain and Portugal. 

"The Spanish and English were at war," relates Luther 
IJttle, "and the stable in which we slept was surrounded by 
Spaniards who swore we were English and they would take us 
prisoners. In vain the landlord of the nearby tavern expostu- 
lated with them, saying we were Americans in distress traveling 
to Faro. They still persisted in forcing the door. The pilot 
told them that we were desperate men armed to the teeth and 
at length they disappeared." 

They were among a set of accomplished thieves, for next day 
they bought some mackerel and stowed it in their packs from 
which it was artfully stolen by the very lad who had sold it to 
them. The pilot cheered them with tales of highway robbery 
and murder as they fared on, indicating with eloquent gestures 
sundry stones which marked the burial places of slain travelers. 
They were once attacked by a gang of brigands who stole their 
mule and slender store of baggage, but the seamen rallied 
with such headlong energy that the robbers took to the 
bushes. 

Reaching the port of Faro, they found a good-hearted mate 
of a Portuguese brig who gave them a ham, four dozen biscuit 
and a part of a cheese. The French Consul also befriended 
them, and supplied a boat to take them to a port called lammont. 
Although the ingenuous Luther Little explains their next adven- 
ture as pacific, it is not unfair to presume that his company 
committed a mild-mannered kind of piracy. However, he 
tells the tale in this fashion: 

" We reached the mouth of the lammont River next morning. 
Here we met a Spanish shallop coming out, bound to Cadiz, 
loaded with small fish and manned with six men. The Captain 
Avas very old. We shifted on board this shallop and sailed 
toward Cadiz with a fair wind. When night approached the 

103 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Spanish captain having no compass, steered by a star; at ten 
the clouds came over and the stars were shut in, the wind blow- 
ing fresh. The Spaniards fell on their knees, imploring the 
aid of their saints. Directly the captain concluded to go on 
shore, and took his cask of oil to break the surf, and bore away 
toward the shore. We being the strongest party (eleven to six), 
hauled the shallop onto her course and obliged the old Spaniard 
to take the helm, it still continuing very thick. At one that 
morning we struck on the Porpoise Rocks at the mouth of 
Cadiz Bay; we shipped two seas which filled the boat. With 
our hats we bailed out water, fish and all, directly made Cadiz 
light, and ran in near the wall of the city. The sentry from 
the wall told us to come no nearer, whereupon the old cap- 
tain hauled down sails and let go his anchor. At daylight I 
paid one Spanish dollar apiece passage money and we left the 
boat. 

" We went to the gate of the city and sat down on some ship 
timber. One of our men was then two days sick with a fever. 
When the gate was opened we marched in, two of us carrying 
the sick man. A little way inside we met a Spaniard who spoke 
English. He invited us to his house, and gave us a breakfast 
of coffee and fish, and told us we were welcome to remain there 
until we could find a passage home." 

Next day Luther Little as spokesman waited upon John Jay, 
United States Minister to the Court of Madrid, who had come 
to Cadiz with his wife in the Confederacy frigate. Minister Jay 
put the sick man in a hospital while the others sought chances 
to work their way home. They found in the harbor an English 
brig which had captured an American ship and was then in her 
turn retaken by the Yankee crew who had risen upon the prize 
crew. According to Luther Little this Yankee mate, Morgan 
by name, was a first-class fighting man, for he had sailed the 
brig into Cadiz, flying the Stars and Stripes, with only a boy or 

104 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

two to help him. She carried twelve guns and needed a heavy 
crew to risk the passage home to Cape Ann. 

Reinforced by the captain and crew of another American 
vessel which had been taken by an English frigate, Luther 
Little's party sought Minister Jay and explained the situation. 
They could work their passage in the brig, but they had no 
provisions. Would he help them.'^ Mr. Jay made this singular 
compact, that he would give them provisions if they would sign 
a document promising to pay for the stores at the Navy Yard 
in Boston, or to serve aboard a Continental ship until the debt 
was worked out. All hands signed this paper by which they 
put themselves in pawn to serve their country's flag, and the 
brig sailed from Cadiz. 

After thirty days they were on George's Bank where they lay 
becalmed while an English privateer swept down toward them 
with sweeps out. A commander was chosen by vote, decks 
cleared for action, and two guns shifted over to the side toward 
the privateer. "The captain ordered his crew to quarters. 
When the privateer came up to us we gave her a broadside; she 
fired upon us, then dropped astern and came up on the larboard 
side," so Little describes it. "As soon as the guns would bear 
upon her we gave her another broadside. They returned the 
same. The privateer schooner giving up the contest, dropped 
astern and made off, we giving her three cheers." 

Without mishap the brig arrived off Cape Ann, and con- 
tinued on to Boston. There Luther Little obtained money 
from friends and paid off his share of the debt to the Navy 
Board. He was the only one of the eleven of his party who 
redeemed themselves, however, the others going aboard Con- 
tinental cruisers as stipulated by the shrewd Minister Jay who, 
in this fashion, secured almost a dozen lusty seamen for the 
na\'y. 

"Once more I reached home entirely destitute," comments 

105 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Luther Little, who tarried on his father's farm a few weeks, and 
then once more "bade home and those dear to me, adieu." 
This was in the year 1780. He entered on board the United 
States ship Protector, of twenty-six guns and 230 men, as mid- 
shipman and prizemaster. Her commander was John Foster 
WilUams, and her first lieutenant, George Little, was a brother 
of our hero. Their names deserve remembrance, for the Pro- 
tector fought one of the most heroic and desperate engagements 
of the Revolution of which Midshipman Little shall tell you in 
his own words: 

"We lay off in Nantasket Roads making ready for a six 
months' cruise, and put to sea early in April of 1780. Our 
course was directed eastward, keeping along the coast till we 
got off Mount Desert, most of the time in a dense fog, without 
encountering friend or foe. On the morning of June ninth, 
the fog began to clear away, and the man at the masthead gave 
notice that he discovered a ship to the windward of us. We 
perceived her to be a large ship under English colors, stand- 
ing down before the wind for us. We were on the leeward 
side. 

" As she came down upon us she appeared to be as large as a 
seventy-four. The captain and lieutenant were looking at her 
through their glasses, and after consulting decided that she was 
not an English frigate but a large king's packet ship, and the 
sooner we got alongside of her the better. The boatswain 
was ordered to pipe all hands to quarters, and clear the ship 
for action. Hammocks were brought up and stuffed into the 
nettings, decks wet and sanded, matches lighted and burning, 
bulkheads hooked up. 

"We were not deceived respecting her size. It afterwards 
proved she was of eleven hundred tons burden, a Company 
ship which had cruised in the West Indies for some time and 
then took a cargo of sugar and tobacco at St. Kitts bound to 

106 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

London. She carried thirty-six twelve-pounders upon the gun 
deck, and was furnished with two hundred and fifty men, and 
was called the Admiral Duff, Richard Strange, master. We 
were to the leeward of her and standing to the northward under 
cruising sail. She came down near us, and aimed to pass us 
and go ahead. After passing by to the leeward she hove to 
under fighting colors. We were all this time under English 
colors and observed her preparing for action. Very soon I 
heard the sailing master call for his trumpet : 

"'Let fall the foresail, sheet home the main topgallant sail.' 

"We steered down across her stern, and hauled up under her 
lee quarter. At the same time we were breeching our guns aft 
to bring her to bear. Our first lieutenant possessed a very 
pow^erful voice; he hailed the ship from the gang-board and 
enquired : 

"'What ship is that.?' 

"He was answered 'The Admiral Duff.' 

'"Where are you from and where bound?' 

"'From a cruise bound to London,' they answered, and then 
enquired: 'What ship is that.?' 

"We gave no answer. The captain ordered a broadside given, 
and colors changed at the first flash of a gun, and as the thirteen 
stripes took the place of the English ensign they gave us three 
cheers and fired a broadside. They partly shot over us, their 
ship being so much higher than ours, cutting away some of our 
rigging. The action commenced within pistol shot and now 
began a regular battle, broadside to broadside. 

" After we had engaged one half hour there came in a cannon 
ball through the side and killed Mr. Scollay, one of our mid- 
shipmen. He commanded the fourth twelve-pounder from the 
stem, I commanded the third. The ball took him in the head. 
His brains flew upon my gun and into my face. The man at 
my gun who rammed down the charge was a stout Irishman. 

107 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Immediately on the death of Mr. Scolley he stripped himself 
of his shirt and exclaimed : 

"'An' faith, if they kill me they shall tuck no rags into my 
insides.' 

"The action continued about an hour when all the topmen 
on board the enemy's ship were killed by our marines, who were 
seventy in number, all Americans. Our marines also killed the 
man at the wheel, caused the ship to come down upon us, and 
her cat-head stove in our quarter-gallery. 

"We lashed their jib-boom to our main-shrouds, and our 
marines from the quarterdeck firing into their port holes kept 
them from charging. We were ordered from our quarters to 
board, but before we were able the lashings broke. We were 
ordered back to quarters to charge our guns when the other 
ship shooting alongside of us, the yards nearly locked. We 
gave her a broadside which cut away her mizzen mast and made 
great havoc among them. We perceived her sinking, at the 
same time saw that her main topgallant sail was on fire, which 
ran down the rigging and caught a hogshead of cartridges under 
the quarterdeck and blew it up. 

" At this time from one of their forward guns there came into 
the port where I commanded a charge of grape shot. With three 
of them I was wounded, one between my neck bone and wind- 
pipe, one through my jaw lodging in the roof of my mouth, and 
taking off a piece of my tongue, the third through the upper lip, 
taking away part of the lip and all of my upper teeth. I was 
immediately taken to the cockpit, to the surgeon. My gun was 
fired only once afterward; I had fired nineteen times. I lay 
unattended to, being considered mortally wounded and was 
past by that the wounds of those more likely to live might be 
dressed. I was perfectly sensible and heard the surgeon's 
remark : 

"'Let Little lay. Attend to the others first. He will die.' 

108 




Captain Luther Little 

rhe scars and disfigurement left by wounds received in the action with the Admiral 
Duff have been faithfully repro(!uced by the painten 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

" Perceiving me motion to him he came to me and began to 
wash off the blood, and dress my wound. After dressing the 
lip and jaw he was turning from me. I put my hand to my 
neck, and he returned and examined my neck, pronouncing it 
the deepest wound of the three. I bled profusely, the surgeon 
said two gallons. 

"By this time the enemy's ship was sunk and nothing was to 
be seen of her. She went down on fire with colours flying. 
Our boats were injured by the shots and our carpenters were 
repairing them in order to pull out and pick up the men of the 
English that were afloat. They succeeded in getting fifty-five, 
one half wounded and scalded. 

" The first lieutenant told me that such was their pride when 
on the brink of a watery grave, that they fought like demons, 
preferring death with the rest of their comrades rather than 
captivity, and that it was with much difficulty that many of 
them were forced into the boats. Our surgeon amputated 
limbs from five of the prisoners, and attended them as if they 
had been of our own crew. One of the fifty-five was then sick 
with the West Indies fever and had floated out of his ham- 
mock between decks. The weather was excessively warm 
and in less than ten days sixty of our men had taken the 
epidemic. 

"The Admiral Duff had two American captains, with their 
crews, on board as prisoners. These (the captains) were among 
the fifty-five saved by our boats. One of them told Captain 
Williams that he was with Captain Strange when our vessel 
hove in sight, that he asked him what he thought of her, and 
told him he thought her one of the Continental frigates. Cap- 
tain Strange thought not, but he wished she might be; at any 
rate were she only a Salem privateer she would be a clever little 
prize to take home with him. During the battle while Captain 
Williams was walking the quarterdeck a shot from the enemy 

109 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

took his speaking trumpet from his hand, but he picked it up 
and with great calmness continued his orders.* 

"We sailed for the coast of Nova Scotia near to Halifax. 
After cruising there about a week we discovered a large ship 
steering for us, and soon discovered her to be an English frigate. 
We hove about and ran from her, our men being sick, we did 
not dare to engage her. This was at four o'clock in the after- 
noon. The frigate gained on us fast. When she came up 
near us we fired four stern chasers, and kept firing. When she 
got near our stem she luffed and gave us a broadside which did 
no other damage save lodging one shot in the mainmast and 
cutting away some rigging. We made a running fight until 
dark, the enemy choosing not to come alongside. In the 
evening she left us and hauled her wind to the southward and 
we for the north." 

The captain of the Protector needed wood and water and so 
set sail for the Maine coast where he landed his invalids, con- 
verting a farmer's barn into a temporary hospital with the 



*In the log book of the Protector Captain WiUiams described the engage- 
ment as follows: "June dth, 1780. At 7 a.m. saw a ship to the Westward, we 
stood for her under English colours, the ship standing athaught us, under Eng- 
lish colours, appeared to be a large ship. At 11 came alongside of her, hailed 
her, she answered from Jamaica. I shifted my colours and gave her a broad- 
side; she soon returned us another. The action was very heavy for near three 
Glasses, when she took fire and blew up. Got out the Boats to save the men, 
took 55 of them, the greatest jiart of them wounded with our shot and burnt 
when the ship blew up. She was called the Admiral Dujf of 32 guns, Com- 
man'd by Richard Strang from St. Kitts and Eustatia, ladened with Sugar and 
Tobacco, bound to London. We lost in the action one man, Mr. Benja. 
Scollay and 5 wounded. Rec'd several shot in our Hull and several of our 
shrouds and stays shot away." 

Ebenezer Fox who was a seaman aboard the Protector related: "We ascer- 
tained that the loss of the enemy was prodigious, compared with ours. This 
disparity, however, will not appear so remarkable when it is considered that, 
although their ship was larger than ours, it was not so well supplied with men; 
having no marines to use the musket, they fought with their guns alone, and 
as their ship lay much higher out of the water than ours, the greater part of 
their shot went over us, cutting our rigging and sails without injuring our men. 
We had about seventy marines who did great execution with their muskets, pick- 
ing off the ofEcers and men with a sure and deliberate aim." 

110 



1 



Captain Luther LittWs Oivn Story 

surgeon's mate in charge. While the cruiser lay in harbor 
Luther Little's sense of humor would not permit this incident 
to go unforgotten: 

"Among our crew was a fellow half Indian and half negro 
who coveted a fatted calf belonging to a farmer on the shore. 
His evil genius persuaded him to pilfer the same, but he could 
find only one man willing to assist him. Cramps, which was 
the negro's name, took a boat one evening and went on shore 
to commit the depredation. He secured the victim and returned 
to the ship without discovery. He arrived under the ship's 
bows and called for his partner in crime to lower the rope to 
hoist the booty on board, but his fellow conspirator had dodged 
below and it so happened that the first lieutenant was on deck. 
Cramps, thinking it was his co-worker in iniquity, hailed him 
in a low voice, asking him to do as he had agreed and that 
damned quick. 

" The lieutenant, thinking that something out of the way was 
going on, obeyed the summons. Cramps fixed the noose 
around the calf's neck, and cried : 

'"Pull away, blast your eyes. My back is almost broke 
carrying the crittur so far on the land. Give us your strength 
on the water.' 

"The lieutenant obeyed, and Cramps, boosting in the rear, 
the victim was soon brought on deck. Cramps jumped on 
board and found both himself and the calf in possession of the 
lieutenant. Next morning the thief was ordered to shoulder 
the calf and march to the farmer and ask forgiveness, and take 
the reward of his sins which was fifty lashes." 

So seriously had Midshipman Little been raked with the 
three grape shot that he was sent home to recover his strength, 
and he did not rejoin the Protector until her second cruise five 
months later. After taking several prizes between the New 
England coast and the West Indies, she sailed for Charleston. 

Ill 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

One afternoon a sail was sighted to the leeward. " We wore 
around," says the narrative, "and made sail in chase, found we 
gained fast upon her and at sunset we could see her hull. When 
night shut in we lost sight of her. There came over us a heavy 
cloud with squalls of thunder and lightning and by the flashes 
we discovered the ship which had altered her course. We 
hauled our wind in chase and were soon alongside. The next 
flash of lightning convinced us she was of English colours. We 
hailed her. She answered 'from Charleston bound to Jamaica,' 
and inquired where we were from. The first lieutenant shouted 
back: 

"'The Alliance, United States frigate.' 

" Our men were all at quarters and lanterns burning at every 
port. Our captain told him to haul down his colours, and 
heave to. There was no answer. We fired three twelve 
pounders. He called out and said he had struck. Captain 
Williams asked why he did not shorten sail and heave to. He 
replied that his men had gone below and would not come up. 
Our barge was lowered, a prize crew and master put on board 
and we took possession of the ship. She proved to be of eight 
hundred tons burden, with three decks fore and aft carrying 
twenty-four nine-pounders and manned with eighty men. We 
ordered her for Boston where she arrived safe." 

This handsome capture was achieved by an audacious 
"bluff," but this cruise of the Protector was fated to have a less 
fortunate ending. A few days later another prize was taken 
and, lucky for Luther Little, he was put aboard as prizemaster. 
While he was waiting in company with the Protector for his 
orders to proceed, the cruiser sighted another sail and made 
off in chase. Prizemaster Little tried to follow her until night 
shut down, and then as she showed no lights he gave up the 
pursuit and shaped his course for Nantucket. At daylight 
next morning, the mate who was standing his watch on deck, 

112 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

went below to inform Skipper Little that two large ships were 
to the leeward. The latter climbed aloft with his glass and 
made them out to be British frigates in chase of the Protector. 
They took no notice of the prize a mile to windward of them 
but pelted hard after the Yankee war ship and when last seen 
she was in the gravest danger of capture. 

Luther Little cracked on sail for Boston with his prize and 
upon arriving called upon Governor John Hancock and told 
him in what a perilous situation he had left the Protector. Ten 
days later the news came that the cruiser had been taken by 
the Roebuck and Mayday frigates and carried into New York. 

Luther Little, having escaped with the skin of his teeth, 
forsook the service of the United States and like many another 
stout seaman decided to try his fortune privateering. Captain 
William Orme, a Salem merchant, offered him the berth of 
lieutenant aboard the letter of marque brig Jupiter. She was 
a formidable vessel, carrying twenty guns and a hundred and 
fifty men. From Salem, that wasp's nest of Revolutionary 
privateersmen, the Jupiter sailed for the West Indies. Captain 
Orme went in his ship, but while he was a successful shipping 
merchant, he was not quite a dashing enough comrade for so 
seasoned a sea-dog as this young Luther Little. To the wind- 
ward of Turk's Island they sighted a large schooner which 
showed no colors. 

" Our boatswain and gunner had been prisoners a short time 
before in Jamaica," says Lieutenant Little, "and they told 
Captain Orme that she was the Lyon schooner, bearing eighteen 
guns. Our boatswain piped all hands to quarters and we pre- 
pared for action. Captain Orme, not being acquainted with a 
warlike ship, told me I must take the command, advising me 
to run from her. I told him in thus doing we should surely be 
taken. I ordered the men in the tops to take in the studding- 
sails. W^e then ran down close to her, luffed, and gave her a 

113 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

broadside, which shot away both of her topmasts. She then 
bore away and made sail and ran from us, we in chase. We 
continued thus for three hours, then came alongside. I hailed 
and told them to shorten sail or I'd sink them on the spot 
Our barge was lowered and I boarded her; all this time she had 
no colours set. I hailed our ship and told Captain Orme I 
thought her a clear prize, and bade the men prepare to board 
her. But the captain hailed for the boat to return. I obeyed 
and told him she had a good many men and several guns. The 
captain said he would have nothing to do with her, as he feared 
they might rise upon us. Much to my reluctance we left her." 

After having thirty men of the crew violently ill at one time 
in the fever-stricken harbor of Port au Prince, the letter of 
marque Jupiter was freighted with sugar and coffee and set 
out for Salem. Dodging two English frigates cruising for 
prizes in the Crooked Island passage, she passed a small island 
upon which some kind of signal appeared to be hoisted. 

"I was in my hammock quite unwell," relates Lieutenant 
Little of the Jupiter. "The captain sent for me on deck and 
asked me if I thought a vessel had been cast away on the island. 
After spying attentively with my glasses, I told him it was no 
doubt a wreck, and that I could discover men on the island, 
that probably they were in distress. I advised him to send a 
boat and take them off. He said the boat should not go unless 
I went in her. I told him I was too sick, to send Mr. Leach, 
our mate. He would not listen to me. I went. We landed 
at the leeward of the island, and walked toward the wreck, 
when ten men came towards us. They were the captain and 
crew of the unfortunate vessel. They were much moved at 
seeing us, said they were driven ashore on the island and had 
been there ten days without a drop of water. By this time 
Captain Orme had hove a signal for our return, there being a 
frigate in chase. Going to the ship the wrecked captain, who 

114 



Captain Luther Little's Own Story 

was an old man named Peter Trott, asked me where our vessel 
was from. I told him we were bound to Salem, and he was 
quite relieved, fearing we were an English man-of-war. We 
came alongside and the boat was hoisted up and every sail set, 
the frigate in chase. She gained upon us and at dark was about 
a league astern. The clouds were thick and I told the captain 
we were nearly in their power, our only chance being to square 
away and run to the leeward across the Passage, it being so 
thick that they could not discover us with their night glasses. 
We lay to until we thought the frigate had passed, made sail 
toward morning, and fetched through the Passage." 

After this voyage Luther Little became captain of a large 
brig which had a roundhouse and was steered by a wheel which 
was uncommon for merchantmen in those days. He had one 
terrific winter passage home from the West Indies, fetched up 
off the Massachusetts coast with every man of his crew but one 
helplessly frozen, and his vessel half full of water. With his one 
lone seaman he was blown off to sea, and at length ran his 
water-logged craft ashore on the Maine coast. Nothing 
daunted, he worked her down to Boston, after being frozen up 
and adrift in ice, and sending ashore for men to help him pump 
out his hold. 

"Here at this era of my life, the wheel of fortune turned," he 
makes comment. "The last seventeen years had been spent 
mostly on the wide waters. I had passed through scenes at 
which the heart shrinks as memory recalls them; but now the 
scene changed. Ill luck was ended." 

Thereafter Captain Luther Little continued in the West 
India trade until he had made twenty-four successful voyages, 
"always bringing back every man, even to cook and boy." 
After this he shifted to the commerce with Russia, making six 
yearly voyages to St. Petersburg at a time when the American 
flag was almost unknown in that port. 

115 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

"During one of these voyages," he recounts, "when off Nor- 
way in a cold snow storm lying to, a man on the main yard 
handling the mainsail fell overboard, went under the vessel, 
and came up on the lee side. I was then on the quarterdeck, 
caught a hen coop, and threw it into the ocean. He succeeded 
in getting hold of it. I then ordered topsails hove aback, and 
to cut away the lashings of the yawl. The man not being in 
sight I ordered the boat to pull to windward. They succeeded 
in taking him and brought him on board. He was alive though 
unable to speak or stand. I had him taken into the cabin, and 
by rubbing and giving him something hot, he was soon restored 
to duty. I asked him what he thought his fate would be when 
overboard. He said that he tried the hen coop lying to and 
found that would not answer. Then he thought he would try 
it scudding, and ' sir,' he answered, ' if you had not sent your boat 
just as you did, I should have borne away for the coast of 
Norway.'" 

When his sea life ended at the age of forty-one. Captain 
Luther Little could say with a very worthy pride: 

"In all my West India and Russian voyaging I never lost a 
man, never carried away a spar, nor lost a boat or anchor." 

In 1799, before the opening of the nineteenth century, this 
sturdy Yankee seaman, Luther Little, was ready to retire to 
his ancestral farm in Marshfield where his great-grandfather 
had hewn a home in the wilderness. In the prime of his vigor 
and capacity, having lived a dozen lives afloat, he was content 
to spend forty-odd years more as a New England farmer. And 
in his eighty-fifth year this old-fashioned American sailor and 
patriot still sunny and resolute, was able to sit down and describe 
the hazards through which he had passed just as they are here 
told. 



116 



CHAPTER VII 

THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM RUSSELL 

(1776-1782) 

A N attempt to portray the seafaring life of our forefathers 
/-\ would be signally incomplete without some account 
of the misfortunes endured when the American priva- 
teersman or man-of-war 's-man was the loser in an encounter 
on blue water. During the Revolution, when privateers were 
swarming from every port from Maine to the Carolinas, scores 
of them were captured by superior force and their crews carried 
off to be laid by the heels, often for two and three years, in 
British prisons of war. Brilliant as was the record of the 
private armed ships of Salem, her seamen, in large numbers, 
became acquainted with the grim walls of Old Mill Prison at 
Plymouth and Forton Prison near Portsmouth. 

They were given shorter rations than the French, Spanish 
and Dutch prisoners of war with whom they were confined, 
and they were treated as rebels and traitors and committed as 
such. Manuscript narratives of their bitter experiences as pre- 
served in Salem show that these luckless seamen managed to 
maintain hope, courage and loyalty to a most inspiring degree, 
although theirs was the hardest part to play that can be imagined. 
Many of them shipped again in privateer or Continental cruiser 
as soon as they were released and served their covmtry until 
the end of the war. 

As recalling this prison life in a personal and intimate way, 
the subjoined journal of William Russell is quoted at consider- 

117 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

able length although he was not a native of Salem. He sailed 
and was captured in a ship commanded by Captain John 
Manley, of Marblehead; however, he met many masters and 
seamen of Salem vessels during his years of confinement in Old 
Mill Prison, and his journal came at length into the hands of 
his grandson, James Kimball of Salem. What he suffered in 
prison and how heartily he hated his captors and their nation 
can be compactly concluded from these vitriolic verses of his : 

"Great Mars icith me, come now and view, this more than Hellish crew! 
Great Vulcan send your thunder forth, and all their fields bestrew! 
Rain on their heads perpetual fire in one eternal flame: 
Let black destruction be their doom, dishonored be their name: 
Send mighty bolts to striJce the traitors. North and Mansfield, dead: 
And liquid fires to scald the crown from Royal George's head: 
Strilce all their young posterity, with one eternal curse. 
Nor pity them, no more than they, have ever pitied us! 

One hundred and thirty years ago William Russell was 
earning a humdrum livelihood as an usher in a " public school " 
of Boston taught by one Master Griffith. Whatever else he 
may have drilled into the laggard minds of his scholars, it is 
certain that the young usher did not try, by ferrule or precept, 
to inspire loyalty for their gracious sovereign, King George and 
his flag. It is recorded that " he was of an ardent temperament 
and entered with great zeal into the political movement of 
the Colonies," and was early enrolled among the "Sons of 
Liberty," which organization preached rebellion and resistance 
to England long before the first clash of arms. At the age 
of twenty-three this undignified school teacher was one of the 
band of lawless patriots who, painted and garbed as red Indians, 
dumped a certain famous cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. 

When a British fleet and army took possession of seething 
Boston, Master Griffith had to look for another usher, for 
William Russell had "made himself obnoxious to the 'authori- 

118 



Journal of William Russell 



ties, ' " and found it advisable to betake himself with his family 
to places not so populous with red coats. 

His active service in the cause of the Revolution did not 
begin until June of 1777, when the Massachusetts State's Train 
of Artillery for the defense of Boston was reorganized, and the 
first entry in the regimental orderly book was in the hand- 
writing of Sergeant Major William Russell; a roll of the officers 
which included the name of " Paul Revere, Lieutenant Colonel." 

Sergeant Major Russell was later appointed adjutant of this 
regiment and served in the Rhode Island campaign until the 
end of the year 1778. Thereafter that "ardent temperament" 
in his country's cause led him to seek the sea, and the artillery 
officer entered the naval service as a captain's clerk on board 
the Continental ship Jason under the famous Captain John 
Manley of Marblehead. They were sure of hard fighting who 
sailed with John Manley. While in command of the frigate 
Hancock he had taken the British twenty-eight-gun frigate 
Fox after a severe and bloody action. Later, in the privateer 
Cumberland, he had suffered the misfortune of being carried 
into Barbados by the British frigate Pomona, but breaking 
out of jail with his men at night he seized a British government 
vessel, put her crew in irons, and sailed her to the United States. 
Reaching Boston, Captain Manley was given the fine Conti- 
nental cruiser Jason, of twenty guns and a hundred and twenty 
men. 

It was this vessel and its dashing commander which lured 
young William Russell from his military service. But the 
Jason was captured during Captain Manley's first cruise in her 
by the swift British frigate Surprise after a hammer and tongs 
engagement in which the American loss was thirty killed and 
wounded. Carried as prisoners to England, the officers and 
some of the men of the Jason were thrown into Old Mill Prison 
at Plymouth where William Russell kept the journal which is 

119 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

by far the most complete and entertaining account of the ex- 
perience of the Revolutionary privateersmen and naval seamen 
who suffered capture that has been preserved. 

After two and a half years' confinement in a British prison, 
William Russell, having left a wife and children at home, was 
exchanged and sent to Boston in a cartel, or vessel under a 
flag of truce. He enjoyed his homecoming no more than 
a few days when he re-entered the service of his country as a 
privateersman and was again captured during his first cruise, 
and sent to the notorious prison ship Jersey in New York 
harbor. He was not paroled until the spring of 1783, when 
with health shattered by reason of his years of hardship as a 
prisoner of war he returned to Cambridge and endeavored to 
resume his old occupation of teaching. He mustered a few 
scholars at his home in the "Light House Tavern," but con- 
sumption had gripped him and he died in the following year, 
on March 7, 1784, at the age of thirty-five. He had given the 
best years of his life to his country and he died for its cause 
with as much indomitable heroism and self-sacrificing devotion 
as though musket ball or boarding pike had slain him. 

The Journal of William Russell's long captivity in Mill 
Prison begins as follows:* 

" Dec. 19, 1779. This morning the Boatswain told us to get 
ready to go on shore to be examined. Went to the Fountain 
Inn Dock. Examined by two Justices and committed to Mill 
Prison in Plymouth for Piracy, Treason and Rebellion against 
His Majesty on the High Sea.f This evening came to the 

* From manuscripts in the possession of the Essex Institute, Salem. 

t The commitment proceedings in the case of William Russell were conducted 
by two justices, and their findings read in part as follows: 

"For as much as appears unto James Young and Ralph INIitchell, two of 
the Justices of our Lord the King, assigned to kee]) the Peace within the said 
county (of Devon) on the examination of William Russell, Mariner late of the 
Colony of Massachusetts Bay in North America, a Prisoner brought before us, 
charged with being found in Arms and Rebellion on the High Seas on board the 

120 



Journal of William Russell 



Prison, finding 168 Americans among whom was Captain Manley 
and some more of my acquaintances. Our diet is short, only 
f pound of beef, 1 lb. of bread, 1 qt. of beer per day per man." 

Much of this vivacious journal is occupied with the stories of 
attempted escapes from the prison. The punishment was 
severe, but nothing could daunt the high spirits of these Yankee 
seamen who were continually burrowing through the walls, 
gnawing their way to liberty like so many beavers, and now 
and then scoring a success. This appears to have been their 
chief diversion, a warfare of wits waged against their guards, 
with considerable good humor on both sides. Less than two 
weeks after his commitment William Russell records, January 
1, 1780: "Made a breach in the wall of the Prison, with the 
design of escaping, but it was discovered by the Sentinel on the 
other side. The masons were sent to mend it but it being 
dinner time they left for dinner and two Sentinels were placed 
to prevent our escape. Eight of our men put on frocks and 
took mortar and daubed their clothing, going through the hole 
as workmen. One of them came back into the yard undis- 
covered, but the rest were taken or gave themselves up. 

"Jan. 7th. Began another hole at the south end of the 
prison. The dirt was put in our bread sacks which was the 
occasion of our being found out. The masons were sent for 
and the hole stopped again. Richard Goss, Jacob Vickary, 
Samuel Goss and John Stacey were put upon one half diet and 
confined to the Black Hole for forty days. 

Jas(m ship American Privateer, sailed out of Boston in North America, and 
commissioned by the North American Congress, which was taken by the Sur- 
prise, Enghsh Frigate; 

"That the said William Russell was taken at Sea in the High Treason Act 
committed on the High Seas, out of the Realm on the 29th day of September 
last, being then and there found in Arms levying War, in Rebellion and aiding 
the King's Enemies, and was landed in Dartmouth in the Comity of Devon, 
and the said ^^'illiam Russell now brought before in the Parish of Stock Dem- 
ereall aforesaid, charged with and to be committed for the said offense to the 
Old Mill Prison in the Borough of PbTnoutlv" 

121 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" Jan. 28th. Began upon the same again and tho' the two 
Sentinels were kept with us all night, and two lamps burning, 
we went on with it with great success. The weather being 
very rainy and frost in the ground which thawed just as we 
were going through, the Sentinel marching on his post broke 
into the hole that ran across the road. Immediately the guard 
was alarmed and came into the prison, some with guns, some 
with cutlasses. However we got to our hammocks and laughed 
at them. One of the prisoners threw a bag of stones down 
stairs and liked to have killed a drummer. The hole was 
mended next day and all hopes of our escape is at an end. 
Very bad weather and very dark times." 

The attention of these energetic prisoners was diverted from 
more attempts to break through the walls by the tidings of the 
arrival of a cartel or vessel sent to take home exchanged Ameri- 
cans. The list of "Pardons," as the journal calls them, did 
not include Captain Manley and the men of the Jason, and on 
March 5th it is related: 

" One hundred embarked to-day in the cartel for France, we 
remained in good spirits. I wrote a petition to the Honourable 
Commissioners for taking care of Sick and Hurt Seamen at 
London, in Captain Mauley's name, to obtain His Majesty's 
pardon for nineteen Americans that came after the 168 that 
were pardoned, that we might be ready to go in the next draft. 
The cartel sailed and we are awaiting her return with great 
expectation of being released from this disagreeable confine- 
ment." 

The story of their bitter disappointment is told in a letter 
written by William Russell to his wife in Boston at this time. 
This true-hearted patriot was much concerned about the for- 
tunes of his fighting countrymen, news of whom was filtering 
into Mill Prison in the form of belated and distorted rumors. 
He wrote: 

122 



Journal of William Russell 



"My dear: 

" I transmit these few lines to you with my best love, hoping 
by the blessing of God they will find you and my children, with 
our Mother, Brother and Sisters, and all relations in as good 
state of health as they leave me, but more composed in mind. 
I desire to bless Almighty God for the measure of health I have 
enjoyed since this year came in, as I have not had but one 
twenty-four hours' illness, tho' confined in this disagreeable 
prison, forgotten as it seems by my Countrymen. 

" My dear, in my last letter sent by Mr. Daniel Lane, I men- 
tioned my expectation of being at home this summer (but how 
soon are the hopes of vain man disappointed), and indeed 
everything promised fair for it till the return of the Cartel from 
France which was the 20tli of last month. We expected then 
to be exchanged, but to our sorrow found that she brought no 
prisoners back. She lay some weeks in Stone Pool waiting for 
orders, till at last orders came from the Board at London that 
she was suspended until such time as they knew why the pris- 
oners were not sent. Then all hope of our being exchanged 
was and still is at an end, except kind Providence interposes. 

" It is very evident that the People here are in no wise blame- 
able, for they were ready and willing to exchange us, had there 
been anybody sent from France. We have been informed by 
one of our friends that saw a letter from Doctor Franklin 
which mentioned that the reason of our not being exchanged 
was owing to the neglect of Monsieur Le Sardine, Minister at 
France. If so I shall never love a Frenchman. However, God 
only knows! 

"I understand Mr. John Adams has superseded Doctor 
Franklin at France, to whom I am going to write if he can't 
get us exchanged this Fall. If he don't I think many in the 
yard will enter into the King's service. And I should myself, 
was it not that (by so doing) / must sell my Country, and that 

123 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

which is much more dearer to me, yourself and my children, but 
I rely wholly on God, knowing He will deliver me in His own 
good time. 

" I am extremely sorry to hear that Charleston is taken. Had 
our people beat them there the War would have been over, for 
that was all their dependence. They would have readily 
granted us our Independence for they are sick of the War. 
It is not too late yet if the people in America would turn out in 
good spirit, as they might soon drive them off the Earth." 

The foregoing letter was written in April, 1780, and Charles- 
ton was not captured by General Clinton's army until May 
12th. It was a false report, therefore, which brought grief to 
the heart of William Russell and his comrades, and must have 
been born of the fact that Clinton was preparing to make an 
overland march against Charleston from his base at Savannah. 
The history of two and a half years of the Revolution as it was 
conveyed to the Americans in Mill Prison in piecemeal and 
hearsay rumors was a singularly grotesque bundle of fiction 
and facts. 

No sooner was the hope of exchange shattered than the 
industrious Americans were again absorbed in the game of 
playing hide-and-seek with the prison guard. On April 11th, 
William Russell goes on to say in his matter-of-fact fashion : 

"This evening Captain Manlcy and six others got over the 
sink dill wall and went across the yard into the long prison sink 
and got over the wall, except Mr. Patten who seeing somebody 
in the garden he was to cross was afraid to go down the wall 
by the rope. He came back and burst into the prison by the 
window, frightening the Sentinel who was placed to prevent 
escapes. He in turn alarmed the guard, but by this time the 
rest had got into Plymouth, and being late at night they took 
shelter in Guildhall. The guard finding a rope over the wall 
knew that somebody had made their escape. They surrounded 

124 



Journal of William Russell 



Plymouth, made a search and found Captain Manley, Mr. 
Drummond, Knight, Neagle and Pike, and put them into the 
Black Hole that night." 

A more cheering item of news found its way into the journal 
under date of June 27th: 

"Somerset Militia mounted guard. Have just heard from a 
friend that Captain Paul Jones had taken two Frigates, one 
Brig and a Cutter." 

There is something fine and inspiriting in the following 
paragraph which speaks for itself: 

" July 4, 1780. To-day being the Anniversary of American 
Independence, the American prisoners wore the thirteen Stars 
and Stripes drawn on pieces of paper on their hats with the 
motto, Independence, Liberty or Death. Just before one o'clock 
we drew up in line in the yard and gave Thirteen Cheers for 
the Thirteen United States of America and were answered by 
the French prisoners. The whole was conducted in a decent 
manner and the day spent in mirth." 

It is the more to be regretted that Mr. Patten and one John 
Adams should have chosen this day to turn traitor and enlist 
on board the British sixty-four gun ship Dunkirk " after abusing 
Captain Manley in a shameful manner." To atone for their 
desertion of their flag, however, there is the shining instance 
of one Pike as told on July 26th: 

"When we were turning in at sunset some high words arose 
between the soldiers and our people. An officer and two men 
came to the window and asked if we were English, and began 
to use uncivil language. Upon which Pike said he was an 
Englishman and was taken by the Americans in the first of the 
war, and would fight for them as long as they had a vessel 
afloat. They called him a rascal and threatened to put him in 
the Black Hole. We laughed at them and told them there were 
more rascals outside than in. They went out of the yard and 

125 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

soon returned with six or seven more soldiers to put Pike into 
the Black Hole, but not knowing him they seized on several 
and let them go. They searched the prison, and we told them 
that if they confined one they should confine all. Whereupon 
they went out again and we clapped our hands at them and 
gave them three Cheers." 

Late in July the master, mate and crew of the American 
Letter of Marque Aurora were brought into the prison, increas- 
ing the number of American prisoners to an even hundred. 
That England was fighting the world at large during this period 
appears in the muster roll of Mill Prison which included also 
287 French and 400 Spanish seamen. 

The capture of Henry Laurens, formerly President of the 
Congress of the United States and recently appointed Minister 
to Holland, was a matter of great interest to the Yankee seamen 
in Mill Prison, and the diarist has this to say about it in his 
journal for September, 1780: 

" 10th. A frigate arrived last Friday at Dartmouth from 
New Foundland and brought three Americans as prisoners. 
One was Henry Laurens, Esq., of South Carolina who was 
taken in a tobacco-laden vessel which sailed with a fleet of 
twelve from Virginia. 

"Mr. Laurens, Esq., late President of the Congress of the 
United States but now Ambassador to Holland, and his clerk, 
were committed to the Tower after a spirited speech." 

"Sept. 30, 1780. To-day I am tivelve Months a Prisoner 
and fourteen Months since I left Home." 

Thus ends the chronicle of the first year of William Russell's 
wearing exile in Old Mill Prison, the story of a brave and 
patient man who showed far more concern for the cause of his 
fellow patriots at home than for his own hapless plight and 
separation from his loved ones. Crew after crew of American 
privateering vessels had been brought into the prison, and 

126 



Journal of William Russell 



most of this unfortunate company seem to have been of a 
dauntless and cheerful temper. They had tried one hazard 
of escape after another, only to be flung into the "Black Hole" 
with the greatest regularity. And whereas in other British 
jails and in their prison ships there were scenes of barbarous 
oppression and suffering, these sea-dogs behind the gray walls 
at Plymouth appear to have been on terms of considerable 
friendliness with their guards, except for the frequent and 
painful excursions to the "Black Hole." The Americans, 
however, took their punishment as a necessary evil following 
on the heels of their audacious excursions over and through 
the prison walls. 

Christmastide of 1780 brought a large addition to the prison 
company, eighty-six Frenchmen from Quebec and nine Ameri- 
cans belonging to the privateerships Harlequin and Jack of 
Salem and the Terrible of Marblehead. All hands found cause 
for rejoicing that war was declared between Holland and Eng- 
land, and the journal makes mention on December 25th : 

" To-day being Christmas and the happy news of the Dutch 
War, I drew up the Americans in the yard at one o'clock 
to Huzza in the following manner: Three times for France; 
three times for Spain; and seven times for the seven states of 
Holland. The French in the other yard answered us and the 
whole was performed in a decent manner. 

"28th. Captain Samuel Gerrish made his escape over the 
wall into the French prison. He remained in the French prison 
all night and went off about eight o'clock this morning. We 
were informed that Captain Gerrish got the French barber to 
dress his hair this morning in the prison. A little while after, 
Mr. Cowdry with some French officers came into the yard, and 
when they retired Captain Gerrish placed himself among them, 
and went out bowing to the Agent who did not know him. 
He has not been heard of since. The Agent ordered all the 

127 



Tlie Ships and Sailoi's of Old Salem 

prisoners shut up at noon. After dinner we were all called over, 
but no Captain Gerrish. The Agent is pretty good-natured. 
Mr. Saurey brought us our money, and says he has enough for 
us all winter. 

"Dec. 31st. We have now 122 Dutch prisoners. The year 
closes at twelve o'clock midnight; and we still in prison. 

"1781. Jany. 1st. A Sentinel informed Captain Manley 
to-day that a Minister in Cornwall had been in a trance and 
when he came out said that England would be reduced and 
lose two Capital places or Cities, and that in the run of a year 
there would be Peace. 

"3d. To-day eighteen or twenty of the Americans innocu- 
lated themselves for the Small Pox. Mr. Saurey came to-day 
and brought our money which is augmented to a Shilling a 
week and to be continued during our confinement. Such as 
are necessitated for clothes Captain Connyngham is to make a 
list of and Mr. Saurey* will send it to Mr. Diggsf at London 
in order to obtain them. 

"Feb. 4th (Sunday). This morning Captain Manley com- 
municated to me that he had received a great deal of abuse 
from Captain Daniel Brown and was determined to have satis- 
faction by giving him a challenge to fight a duel with pistols, 

* In his "History of Prisons," published in 1792, John Howard, the philan- 
thropist, mentions in an account of a visit to Forton Prison near Portsmouth 
during the Revolution: 

"The American prisoners there had an allowance from the States paid by 
order of Dr. Franklin." 

The small pa;yTnents of cash doled out to the American seamen in Mill 
Prison were entrusted to this Miles Saurey, of London, by Benjamin Franklin, 
at that time in France as Minister. 

t Under date of "Passy, 25 June, 1782," Franklin wrote his friend Robert 
R. Livingston: 

" I have long suffered with these poor brave men who with so much public 
virtue have endured four or five years' hard imprisonment rather than serve 
against their country. I have done all I could toward making their situation 
more comfortable but their numbers were so great that I could do little for each, 
and that very great villain, Digges, defrauded them of between three and four 
hundred pounds, which he drew from me on their account." 

128 



Journal of William Russell 



and desired me to load them. Accordingly Captain Manley* 
went into the chamber and took his pistols with ammunition 
and put them on the table and told Captain Brown that he had 
been ill-treated and desired him to fight like a Gentleman or 
ask his pardon. Brown said he would not ask his pardon and 
refused to accept the challenge, upon which Captain Manley 
told him he was no Gentleman but a great Coward, and bid 
him have a caution how he made use of his name again. 

"28th. Read the speech of Sir P. Clark in the House of 
Commons, reported in the Sherboume Gazette, who said that 
the American refugees, instead of a Prison ought to have a 
Halter. 

"An Agent from Congress with proposals is undoubtedly in 
London at this time and it is whispered that his terms will be 
agreed to by the English Cabinet. 

" March 4th. Wrote a letter to my wife and mother." 

The letter referred to has been preserved and reads in part : 

"Mill Prison, March 4, 1781. 

"Notwithstanding my long confinement, I bless God that I 
have not experienced the want of any of the necessaries of life 
in this prison, for with my industry! and what I am allowed, 
I live comfortably for a prisoner. 

"The usage we receive, if I am any judge, is very good, for 
we are allowed the liberty of the yard all day and an open 
market at the gate to buy or sell, from nine o'clock in the morn- 

* The diarist, oddly enough, fails to explain how Captain Manley secured 
"his pistols with ammunition" while in prison. 

t William Russell had organized a school among the prisoners soon after 
his arrival at Plymouth. This school he taught during the two years of his 
captivity and the small store of pence received as "tuition fees" enabled him 
to buy many extras in the way of food and clothing. There were many youngsters 
in the prison who had been taken out of privateers as cabin-boys, powder-boys, 
etc., and lads of twelve and thirteen were then shipping as full-fledged seamen 
to "fight the British." The prison schoolmaster helped keep these small fire- 
brands out of mischief. 

129 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

ing to two in the afternoon, besides we have comfortable lodg- 
ings. I have never been in the Black Hole once, for I have 
made it my study to behave as a prisoner ought and I am 
treated accordingly. Last year before this time we had the 
pleasing prospect of an Exchange and one hundred went, but 
to my inexpressible grief I see but little hope of being exchanged 
now till the war is at an end. Where to lay the blame I'm at a 
loss, tho' I think our People might do more than they do. 
However, I keep up good spirits and still live in hopes as we 
are informed that something is doing for us tho' very slowly." 

In a letter written a week later and addressed also to his 
wife in Boston, William Russell said: 

"You can't imagine the anxiety I have to hear from home, 
for my spirits are depressed and I grow melancholy to think in 
what situation you must be, with three young children to 
maintain. But I hope you will be carried through all your 
trouble and remember that there is a God that never suffers 
such as put their trust in Him to want." 

"May 4, 1781. Samuel Owens informed the Agent of the 
people's innoculating themselves for the Small Pox, upon which 
the Agent and Doctor of the Royal Hospital came into the 
yard and searched the arms of such as had been innoculated 
and took the names of the others to report to the Board of 
Commissioners. 

"May 5th. Samuel Owens, Informer, was cut down* last 
night upon which he told the Agent that Mayo and Chase were 
the persons and that they had threatened his life. The Agent 
threatened to put Mayo in irons. However, upon Mayo's 
shaking hands with Owens the matter was settled. 

"9th. An account from New York says that Connecticut 
and Massachusetts are in the greatest disorder and almost 
starved, that their Treasuries are exhausted and their Taxes 

* Meaning that the lashings of his hammock were cut. 
130 



Journal of William Russell 



so high that the People refuse to pay them ; that George Wash- 
ington has advertised his Estate for Sale. Thus far for you, ye 
Lying Gazette! 

"Yesterday Captain Manley dressed himself with an intent 
to go out at the Gate behind the Doctor. Just as he got past 
through the Gate, the Turnkey looked him in the face, which 
prevented his escape. In the afternoon Joseph Adams was 
dressed for the same purpose, which would have been effected 
had not Captain Connyngham prevented. To-day a lugger's 
crew was brought to Prison, forty in number, mostly Americans. 
Nothing more remarkable except the digging of a hole being 
discovered. 

"May 18th. Lieutenant Joshua Barney made his escape 
over the gate at noon, and has not been missed yet. Mr. James 
Adams got over the paling into the little yard in order to escape 
but making too great a noise, was discovered by the guard and 
was obliged to get back. 

"19th. A tailor brought a suit of clothes to the prison for 
Lieutenant Barney by which means his escape was discovered 
and we were mustered. The Agent says he saw him at 12 
o'clock this day, and has ordered us to be locked in the yard all 
day, dinner time excepted. The way we concealed his escape 
was when we were counted into the prison we put a young boy 
out through the window and he was counted twice. So much 
for one of our Mill Prison capers!" 

This Lieutenant Joshua Barney, after whom one of the 
torpedo craft of the modem American navy is named, made a 
brilliant sea record, both as an officer of the naval service and 
as a fighting privateersman. His escape from Mill Prison was 
perhaps the most picturesque incident of his career. Although 
the story of his flight came back to William Russell and his 
comrades only as a scanty report that he had made way to sea, 
it is known from other sources that after leaving the prison 

131 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Lieutenant Barney found refuge in the home of a venerable 
clergyman of Plymouth who sympathized with the American 
cause. There he was so fortunate as to find two friends from 
New Jersey, Colonel William Richardson, and Doctor Hind- 
man, who had been captured as passengers in a merchant vessel 
and were seeking an opportunity to return home. They had 
bought a fishing smack in which they proposed sailing to France 
as the first stage of their voyage. 

Barney disguised himself as a fisherman and safely joined the 
smack as pilot and seaman. They put to sea past the fleet of 
British war vessels off Plymouth, and stood for the French coast. 
Alas, a Guernsey privateer overhauled them in the Channel 
and insisted upon searching the smack. Barney played a 
desperate game by throwing off his fisherman's great coat and 
revealing the uniform of a British officer. He declared that 
he was bound for France on a secret and urgent business of an 
official nature and demanded that he be suffered to proceed on 
his course. The skipper of the privateer was suspicious and 
stubborn, however, and the upshot of it was that the smack was 
ordered back to Plymouth. 

Making the best of the perilous situation, Barney insisted 
that he be taken aboard the flagship of Admiral Digby, where 
"his captor would find cause to repent of his rash enterprise." 
Once in Plymouth harbor, however, the American officer 
escaped to shore and after wandering far and wide amid hair- 
breadth escapes from recapture found a haven in the heavily 
wooded grounds of Lord Edgecomb's estate. From this hiding 
place he managed to return to the home of the clergyman 
whence he had set out. Three days later, in another kind of 
disguise he took a post chaise to Exeter, and from there fled by 
stage to Bristol, and so to London, France and Holland. 

In Holland Lieutenant Barney secured passage in the private 
armed ship South Carolina, bound to Bilboa. In his diary, 

132 



Journal of William Russell 



John Trumbull, the famous American painter, pays a fine trib- 
ute to the seamanship of Joshua Barney. The South Carolina 
was caught in a terrific storm which strewed the English Chan- 
nel with shattered shipping. The vessel was driving onto the 
coast of Heligoland, and almost helpless. "The ship became 
unmanageable," writes Trumbull, "the ofiicers lost their self- 
possession, and the crew all confidence in them, while for a 
few moments all was confusion and dismay. Happily for us 
Commodore Bamey was among the passengers — he had just 
escaped from Mill Prison. Hearing the increased tumult aloft, 
and feeling the ungovemed motion of the ship, he flew upon 
deck, saw the danger, assumed command, the men obeyed, and 
he soon had her again under control." 

Shortly after reaching America, Lieutenant Bamey was 
ofl^ered command of the Hyder Ally, a ship commissioned by the 
Pennsylvania Legislature, mounting sixteen six-pounders and 
carrying one hundred and twenty men. In this converted 
merchantman, hastily manned and equipped, Bamey won one 
of the most brilliant naval victories of the Revolution against 
the General Monk off the Capes of the Delaware. 



133 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM RUSSELL (coticluded) 

(1779-1783) 

JUNE 5, 1782. Yesterday was 'George the Foolish 's' 
Birthday. The Shipping and Forts fired Salutes at 
noon; Cowdry hoisted an Enghsh Jack, and a French 
one under it, and fired his Battery. In the afternoon the 
Officers of the Guard took some of their men, and fired the 
Cannon a number of times. In loading a piece, they did not 
stop the vent, and fire took the cartridge before the rammer 
was out, and killed one and wounded three of their men. A 
very melancholy circumstance has happened, two to three 
hundred of us taken ill with a violent cold, myself included. 
I still remain unwell, but something better; the men in general 
are improving. I was taken with a violent pain in my head, 
back, stomach and legs with a dry cough, but knowing the 
Doctor would give me but one sort of medicine, let the ail be 
what it may, I thought to use none of his drugs, but to trust the 
Physician of Physicians, and use such means as I might think 
proper. 

" One of our Men said to the Doctor, 

"'Doctor, I've a violent pain in my Head.' 

" Reply : ' Take some Mixture.' 

"'Doctor, I've a sour Stomach.' 

" Reply : ' Take some Mixture.' 

"Doctor, 'I've a violent Fever on me every Night.' 

" Reply : ' Take some Mixture. ' 

134 



The Journal of William Russell 



"In short let the disease be what it will, you must take his 
Mixture, or Electuary. N. B., — This Medicine is Salts and 
Jalap; his Electuary, Conserve of Roses and Balsam. How- 
ever, we have styled it Doctor Ball's Infallable Cure for all 
Manner of Diseases. 

"6th. This morning the Doctor came and bled one of our 
men, and went out without doing up his arm, or even saying 
what quantity of blood should come from him. This is the 
second man he has stuck his lance in, and left bleeding. I 
remain very ill, and the whole Prison is put on Hospital diet, 
which is: 1 lb. of white bread, ^ pint of milk, ^ lb. of mutton, 
Y lb. of cabbage, and 1 quart of beer. By not hearing anything 
of the Transports and with the violent pain in my head, I am 
almost beside myself." 

Under date of Dec. 22, 1781, William Russell had set down 
in his journal: " Mr. Burke in the House of Commons, speaking 
of Hon. Mr. Lauren's ill treatment in the Tower, was told by 
Lord Newhaven, that if he (Newhaven) had said as much, he 
should have expected to be put in Mr. Lauren's place. To 
whom Mr. Burke replied that he did not aspire to such places, 
being a poor man he could not afford it; as for his Lordship, 
he being a man of Fortune, such places would suit him best, 
but a meaner prison would do for him, and he should think 
himself very happy in any place, if he had such agreeable 
Companions with him as Mr. Laurens and Doctor Franklin. 

" General Burgoyne being asked in the House of Commons 
concerning his not being Exchanged for Mr. Laurens said he 
would sooner return to America, and spend his days in a Dun- 
geon there than ask a favor of the Ministry." 

After his surrender at Saratoga Major General Burgoyne was 
permitted to return to England as a prisoner of war on parole. 
When the British Government refused to release Henry Laurens 
from his imprisonment in the Tower of London, the Congress 

135 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

of the United States demanded that General Burgoyne be sum- 
moned to return to America to save his parole. This retali- 
atory measure and the unusual circumstances of Mr. Lauren's 
confinement were discussed in Parliament in the debate re- 
ferred to in the foregoing entry of the journal. 

"8th. This morning we had a quarrel with the old Guard. 
The Sergeant was very insolent and went out and brought in a 
number of the Guard, primed and loaded, but we did not 
value them, but took our own time in turning out, after which 
we stoned and hooted them out of the Yard. They presented 
twice but the Ofiicer would not let them fire. We had a sermon 
preached to us from the 22d Chap. 21st verse of Job, by My 
Lady Huntingdon's Chaplain, who came down from London 
on purpose to preach our farewell sermon. Mr. Miles Saurey 
came with him, and brought letters from Mr. Laurens to Cap- 
tain Greene, informing him that Lord Shelbom says we are to 
be sent away as soon as possible to our respective States, and 
that such as have property in France are to be paroled to leave 
for France. 

"Mr. Laurens is to be Exchanged for Lord Coniwallis,* 
and will leave the Kingdom in a few days. Mr. Laurens 
writes that we are to be provided with necessaries for our 
voyage, and wishes us a good passage, and safe return to our 
Native Land. 

" 14th. Mr. Saurey brought a letter from the Rev. Mr. 

* " Mr. Laurens having been constituted one of the five Commissioners to 
negotiate a Peace, the New Administration consulted with Mr. Laurens, and 
after the first conference he was released from his Parole, as well as his securities. 
Earl Cornwallis was released from his parole in consideration of the favors 
granted Mr. Ivaurens." (From a London Newspaper of May 8th, 1782.) 

In a letter from Sir Guy Carelton and Admiral Digby to General Washington, 
dated at New York August 2, 1782, they stated: 

"With respect to Mr. Laurens we are to acquaint you that he has been dis- 
charged from all engagements without any conditions whatever; after which 
he declared of his own accord, that he considered Lord Cornwallis as free from 
his Parole." 

136 



The Journal of William Russell 



Wren of Portsmouth; the purport of which is that a Ship is 
Victualed and at Portsmouth to carry the Americans belonging 
to the North to Boston, and the men belonging to the South- 
ward are to come around to Plymouth and join the men in our 
Prison. They are expected to embarque in a week or ten 
days. 

"Mr. Pollard received a letter from Mr. John Joy formerly 
of Boston, informing him that the Cartels were fitting out and 
were to sail the next day, wind permitting. We are in high 
spirits, and hope soon to be delivered from this Castle of Despair. 
I'm afraid we shall be detained by contrary winds, for the wind 
keeps to the Westward and blows fresh, which is against the 
vessels coming from the Downs. 

" 15th. We are informed by a letter from Mr. Joy to Jacob 
Homer, that His Majesty has been pleased to pardon us, in 
order for our Exchange, and that we are to be immediately 
delivered from this Awful place of Confinement. 

"We had an excellent sermon, by the Rev. Mr. Sampson, a 
Dissenter, belonging in Cornwall, from 61 Chap, of Isaiah, 1st 
and 2d verses. In reading the last Hymn, when he came to 
the word Rebel, he made a stop, and compar'd the Rebel to the 
Prodigal spoken of in the New Testament, and lest we should 
be offended at using the Word, altered it to Children and Stub- 
horn. His discourse was very suitable to our circumstances. 
The manner in which he delivered himself drew the greatest 
attention. When he spoke of our Parents, Wives and Children 
and the tears they had shed for us whilst in this deplorable 
place, and when I come to reflect on the precarious situation 
we were in some months gone, in a strange land, not knowing 
what might happen, and then to comprehend the reality of the 
Transporting News, of being released from this dismal place 
of exile and suffering, / am compelled to cry out, O God, in the 
midst of Thy Judgments, Thou has remembered Mercy/ 

137 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" 9th. Capt. Malcolm came to see us, and informed us that 
the air is infected with this Disorder that is among us. Some 
persons have experimented by flying a kite in the air with a 
piece of beef to the tail. When it came down the beef was 
tainted, I desire to thank God that the pain in my head is 
somewhat abated, and the people in general are getting better. 

"No news from any Quarter. Dark times, low in Spirits 
and low in purse. 

" 17th. Fair, a grand wind E. by N. for our Transports to 
come from Torbay. This morning Thomas Adams of Old York 
died in the Hospital. I have greatly recovered from my sick- 
ness, and find myself able to embarque, was the vessel ready 
to receive me. 

" 19th. Only one Cartel has arrived, and she is for the 
Southward, her Captain named Maxwell, who informed me 
that the Cartel for the North (the Lady's Adventure) could not 
get out of Torbay last Monday. We are in daily expectation 
of seeing them as a signal is now hoisted for a Fleet from the 
East. 

" This day I am thirty months a Prisoner in this disagreeable 
place. 

" We have had the happiness of receiving the joyful news of 
the arrival of the Northern Cartel. The men for the South- 
ward embarque on Saturday, and the men for the North on 
Monday or Tuesday next. The long-looked for day is come at 
last for us to leave these Gloomy Walls, where nothing but 
Horror and Despair reigns. This afternoon we were Honor'd 
with a visit from the Duke of Richmond, and a number of 
generals and other Officers. 

"His Grace asked if we had any complaints against Mr. 
Cowdry. Capt. Greene reply 'd to the Duke 'that Cowdry 
was a dirty fellow.' The Duke reply 'd: 'Government keeps 
dirty fellows, to do their dirty Work.' 

138 



The Journal of William Russell 



" His Grace said to us, that we had gained what we had been 
fighting for, and we should find it so when we arrived in America. 

"21st. This morning Mr. Cowdry ordered the Men bound 
South to get ready to embarque to-morrow at 10 o'clock; Slops 
are to be served this afternoon, and the Prisoners to be examined 
at 6 o'clock in the morning. 

" / desire to bless God that I once more have my health, but T 
am in a Miserable condition for want of cash, and what I am 
to do for Sea-stores I am at a loss. 

"22d. Yesterday the Cloathing was served out to the 
South 'ard Men, and instead of 20 shillings they drew only 16/3. 
One O'Hara and John Cooper abused the Agent and broke 
his Windows for which they were put in the Black Hole. Mr. 
Cowdry embarqued 215 men on board the Cartel for the 
South 'ard. 

"23d. We are to hold ourselves in readiness to embarque 
to-morrow at 2 o'clock. Cowdry sent a Paper into the Prison 
for our People to sign, that he had used us with marks of kind- 
ness, &c. It was immediately torn up. 

" June 24th. The Escort came and the Agent opened the 
Gate of the Castle of Despair, and 400 Americans marched out 
to the Water side, where we found four Launches, and a Cutter 
w^aiting to receive us, I went on board the Cutter, and in a 
short time was on board the Good Ship Lady's Adventure, a 
Cartel bound to Boston. We had our complement on board 
by 6 o'clock. The Agent came off and received a Receipt for 
400 Men and wished us a good Voyage. 

"We immediately hove up anchors, and at 8 o'clock made 
sail. I was transported with Joy at my deliverance from a 
loathsome Prison, where I've been confined thirty Months and 
five days, almost despairing of ever seeing my Native Country, 
my Loving Wife and Dear Children and my relatives and 
friends who are so dear to me; but ' Glory to God in the Highest * 

139 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

for His goodness unto us. I thank God I've a prospect now 
before me of seeing America, that Laiid of Liberty, and on my 
arrival of finding all connected with me in health and happiness. 

"The Rev. Robert Heath and Mr. Saurey took their leave of 
us. The Ship is 700 Ton with accommodations, and well 
found, the Captain and crew^ are very civil, and 7iow I've taken 
my departure from Old Mill Prison, and hope never to see it 
again. 

"We have fine Wind, and May God grant us a quick passage, 
and guide the Ship to her desired Port." 

Thus ends the Journal written in Mill Prison. During the 
voyage to the United States, William Russell kept a detailed 
diary, or log, of the working of the Lady's Adventure, which 
makes dry reading for landlubbers. Here and there, however, 
he jotted down a paragraph having to do with the company on 
board the Cartel, after the manner of the following extracts : 

" Thursday, July 4, 1782. Our People requested the Owner 
to let them have an allowance of Brandy, it being the Anniver- 
sary of our Independence. Accordingly it was granted, and he 
gave two quarts to a man to a Mess. I was desired to acquaint 
the Captain that we meant to give thirteen cheers for the thir- 
teen United States of America, if agreeable to him. He was 
agreed and accordingly the men came on deck, and manned 
the Yards and Tops, and gave thirteen Cheers, and then three 
cheers for the Captain. He was very polite and sent for me 
down to the Cabin, where I w^as kindly entertained. The 
People behaved very well, and very few drunk: Myself Merry. 
I desired one Lieutenant Weeks and Captain Henfield to take 
the command, but they refused and I was obliged to ofiiciate 
myself. Whether Lieutenant Weeks thought himself too good 
or not, I can't say, but Captain Henfield was very excusable. 

" July 9th. Hoisted out the boat to catch turtle. Captains 
Henfield and Hamilton very angry because we kept the ship on 

140 



The Journal of William Russell 



her course and did not heave to. Captain Hamilton said he 
was a lousy rascal that kept her away. Mr. John Washburn 
replied: 'I was at the wheel and am no more lousy than your 
Honour.' Upon that Captain Hamilton struck Mr. Washburn, 
and Mr. Brewer resented it and made a strike at Hamilton. 

"August 7th. Discovered land under our leebow, and made 
it to be Cape Sable. A man at the Mast Head discovered a 
Light House off Cape Sambro bearing East by South, and a 
number of Islands around us, from the weather bow to the 
lee quarter. Set jib, foretopmast staysail and spritsail topsail. 
Captain Trask (one of our Company) took charge of the ship 
as Pilot, filled the topsails and bore down for the northern part 
of the Rock bound Island. Saw a small vessel under the lee 
of the Island (a privateer) which immediately made sail and 
ran out. Later saw a boat (Shallop) with three men which 
made a Signal of Distress. They came alongside but their 
Skipper was very much afraid, and wouldn't believe we were 
a Cartel until he was taken into the cabin. The Captain had 
some discourse with him by which we were informed that the 
American War is not over, that five American Privateers from 
Salem lately demolished the Forts at Chester* and Malagash,* 
and plundered the town, but used the prisoners with humanity. 
Came to anchor in seven fathoms. The American Sod appears 
very comforting to a person whose anxious desires for three 
years past have been to see the land where Freedom reigns. 

" Dined on Halibut, went on shore and picked and ate Goose- 



* "In the month of July, 1782, four privateers, two of them, the Hero and 
the Hope of Salem, attacked Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. They landed ninety 
men who marched to the town against a heavy discharge of musketry, burnt 
the commander's dwelling and a blockhouse. Their opponents retreated to 
another blockhouse upon which one of the jirivateers brought her guns to bear 
and forced them to surrender. The captors carried a considerable quantity 
of merchandise to their vessel and ransomed the town for one thousand pounds 
sterling. The Americans had three wounded." (From Felt's "Annals of 
Salem.") 

141 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

berries. Washed and Loused myself, and made great fires in 
the woods. The boats were employed in bringing the People 
on board." 

The party spent several days ashore, catching and cleaning 
fish, cutting spars, gathering firewood and enjoying their free- 
dom after the long and trying voyage. At length the foretopsail 
was cast loose as a signal for sailing, the ensign hoisted with a 
wisp to recall the boats and the Lady's Adventure got under 
way for the southward. William Russell's journal relates under 
date of August 12th: 

"Spoke a fishing schooner three days out from Plymouth 
which enquired for John Washburn. We told the captain he 
was on board whereupon the old man gave three cheers with 
his Cap and then threw it overboard. No tongue can express 
the Heart-feeling Satisfaction it is unto us to have the happiness 
of a few moments' conversation with an American so short 
from Home. Cheer up, my Heart, and don't despair for thy 
Deliverance draweth near. 

"August 13th. At one half past six o'clock discovered land. 
Cape Cod over our lee quarter. Stood in for Boston Light 
House Island. The men are very uneasy, and clamour, some 
for Marblehead, some for Boston, and can't agree. Captain 
Humble is very willing the ship should go to Boston this evening, 
if any man will take charge of her. None will venture, so 
Captain Humble ordered the Ship to stretch off and on till 
morning." 

Thus ends the sea journal of William Russell, but the Salem 
Gazette of August 15, 1782, contains the following item under 
the head of Shipping Intelligence: 

"By an arrival of two Cartel Ships at Marblehead from 
England, 583 of our Countrymen have been restored to their 
Families and Friends. One of the Ships which arrived on 
Sunday last had an eight weeks' passage from Portsmouth and 

142 



1 



The Journal of William Russell 



brought in 183 prisoners. The other which arrived in fifty- 
two days from Plymouth sailed with 400 and one died on the 
passage." 

It makes the story of this humble sailor of the Revolution 
much more worth while to know that after three years of the 
most irksome captivity, he was no sooner at home with his 
"dear wife and family" than he was eager and ready to ship 
again under the Stars and Stripes. Ill-fated as was his superb 
devotion to his Country, he had suffered his misfortunes in Old 
Mill Prison with a steadfast courage. It was so ordered, how- 
ever, that he should be free no more than thirty days after his 
glad homecoming in the Lady's Adventure. He must have re- 
entered the American naval service a few days after reaching 
Boston, for w^e know that he was captured in a privateer on 
September 16th, by a British Man of War and taken into Halifax. 
On November 28th he was committed to the Jersey Prison ship 
in New York harbor. Here he found himself in a far worse 
plight than in Mill Prison with its genial routine of escape and 
its friendly relations with the Agent, the Guard, and the French 
and Spanish prisoners. All that is known of this final chapter 
in the case of William Russell, patriot, must be gleaned from a 
few letters to his wife and friends. The first of these is ad- 
dressed to "Mrs. Mary Russell, at Cambridge," and says in 
part: 

"On Board the Jersey Prison ship, New York, November 
21st, 1782. 

" I write with an aching heart to inform you of my miserable 
condition. I'm now in the worst of places and must suffer if 
confined here during the Winter, for I am short of cloathing 
and the provisions is so scant that it is not enough to keep 
body and soul together. I was two months on board the Man 
of War and have been almost to Quebec. This is the awfuUest 
place I ever saw, and I hope God will deliver me from it soon. 

143 



The S flips and Sailors of Old Salem 

I conclude, praying for your support in my absence, and the 
prosperity of an Honoured Mother and family." 

To his mother, "Mistress Mary Richardson, Light House 
Tavern, Cambridge," he wrote on November 25th: 

"Honoured Mama: 

"I present these Lines with my Duty to you hoping they'l 
find you with the family and all connected in perfect health. 
I was taken on the 16th Sept. and brought to New York, the 
13th inst., and put out on board this ship the 18th. Indeed it is 
one of the worst places in the World, and the Prisoners are 
suffering; Sickly and dying daily, not having the common 
necessaries of life. I have seen Mr. Welsh who promised to 
assist me but have heard no more from him since the 18th inst. 
Mr. Chadwell has tried to get me exchanged but has not made 
out. He talks of taking Mr. Stone and me ashore and will 
assist us whilst confined. You will give my kind love to my 
Wife and family, likewise to my Brothers and Sisters, and 
desire Moses to write to me, and try to get me exchanged. My 
love to all relations and friends. 

" May God preserve you in health and all with whom we are 
connected, is the earnest prayer 

" of your Dutiful Son 

"Wm. Russell." 

Two weeks later the Captain addressed to his friends, "Messrs. 
Edes and Sons, Printers, Boston," a moving appeal for help in 
the following words: 

" Jersey Prison Ship, New York Harbor, 

"Dec. 7th, 1782. 
"Mr. Edes, 

"Dear Friend: 
" I write you a few lines to inform you of my miserable situa- 
tion, and at the same time to beg your assistance. I am again 

144 



The Journal of William Russell 



by the fortune of War thrown into the Enemies' hands, where 
our scanty allowance is not sufficient to support nature, and 
part of that we are cheated out of. I had the promise of a 
Gentleman's friendship at York, to get me Paroled or Exchanged 
but find that Admiral Digby is so inveterate against Privateers- 
men that he'll not allow any Paroles. Therefore, Sir, I most 
earnestly intreat of you to use your influence with Maj. Hop- 
kins to send to Mr. Sproat Commissioner of Prisoners at New 
York, for Mr. John Stone and me, which he may do very 
easily, and pray send in the first Flag some British Prisoner to 
release me. I suppose my Brother has arrived and brought some 
in." 

Some happy shift of fortune seems to have bettered the 
situation of the prisoner in January of 1783, for he wrote to his 
wife in a wholly different strain to inform her of his deliverance 
from "that horrid pit" below the decks of the prison ship. 
Although still confined aboard the Jersey, he was able to say: 

" My Dear, my situation is greatly altered. I am aft with a 
gentleman where I want for nothing, but live on the best, with 
good Tea night and morning and fresh meat every day. In 
short I am used like a gentleman in every respect both by Mr. 
Emery and his wife. Indeed, my Dear, I am happy in getting 
from between decks, out of that horrid pit where nothing but 
Horror is to be seen. My duty to my Mother, love to my 
Brothers and Sisters, and hope ere long to enjoy your agreeable 
company. Your affectionate husband, 

"Wm. Russell." 

On March 21, 1783, after more than six months of this second 
term of imprisonment, the influence and persistency of his 
friends in Boston obtained for him a three months' parole.* 

* The following: is the text of the parole issued, granted to William Russell : 
"We the Subscribers, having been captured in American Vessels and brought 
into this Port, hereby acknowledge oui-selves Prisoners of War to the King of 

145 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Without going home William Russell at once endeavored to 
repair his shattered fortunes by embarking in a "venture" 
aboard a merchant vessel in order that he might return to 
Boston with money for the support of his family. The following 
letters to his wife explain his plans and purposes. He had 
obtained passage from New York to New Haven in the Lady's 
Adventure, the same merchant vessel which had fetched him 
from Plymouth six months before. Her Master, Captain 
Humble, proved himself a staunch friend of our most unfortu- 
nate but undaunted seafarer. Writing from New Haven on 
March 23, 1783, William Russell told his wife: 

"New Haven, Connecticut,' 23d March, 1783. 
"Mrs. Russell: 

"By the assistance of good friends I am once more in the 
land of Freedom and Independence, for which I've fought, Bled 
and Suffered as much as any without exception on the Con- 
tinent, but the greatest of my concern has (as ever) been for you 
and our little ones. 



Great Britain; and liaving permission from His Excellency, Rear Admiral 
Digby, Commander in Chief, etc., etc., etc., to go to Rhode Island, Do Pledge 
our Faith and most Sacredly promise upon our Parole of Honour that we will 
not do, say, or write, or cause to be done, said, or written, directly or indirectly, 
in any Respect whatever, anything to the Prejudice of His Majesty's Service; 
and that we will return to this Place unless Exchanged in three Months from 
the date hereof, and deliver up again to the Commissary General for Naval 
Prisoners, or to the Person acting for or under him; And do further promise 
upon our Honour that we will not in future enter on Board, or otherwise be 
concerned in an American Privateer. 

"In Testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and Seals, at New 
York, this 21st day of March, 1783. 

"Present Wm. Rtjssell (seal) 

"Wm. Weir Samuel Thompson (seal) 

"Bachus, a Negro Boy, their Ser\'ant, is also to go with them. 
"These are to certify that the above is a true Copy of the Original Parole, 
signed by the Persons above named and filed in this Office; and that they have 
leave to pass by the way of I^ong Island to Connecticut. 

" Commisary's Office for Naval Prisoners at New York. 
"March 21, 1783. 
"To Whom it may Concern. Thos. D. Hewlings, 

"D. C. M. P. 

146 



The Journal of William Russell 



" On the 20th inst. Capt. D. Adams came on board the Lady's 
Adventurer (Capt. Humble) with an order from the Admiral 
for me. You can't think the joy I must feel (without you had 
been in my place) on seeing my townsman, my Captain and 
Friend. True friendship is never known till we are in adversity, 
and then experience the assistance of the Advocate, who steps 
forward to our defence. Capt. Adams has been at great 
cost in getting me from New York, and I have no way to make 
satisfaction without my remaining on Board his vessel will 
effect it. Our circumstances are such that for me to come 
home with my fingers in my mouth would be of little consolation 
to those who have been without my help for almost four years. 
Therefore I think it my duty to try what I can do, and hope by 
the assistance of Capt. Adams to obtain a small Adventure 
and try my luck at a Merchant Voyage, and if Fortune smiles, 
expect to see you in a short time. 

"I recover my health slowly, and hope that Salt water will 
do what the Physician could not effect. 

" I am grieved at not hearing from you. Though out of sight, 
and the enjoyment of liberty might make you forgetful, I'm 
not so." 

(To Mrs. Mary Russell, Cambridge.) 

" Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 16, 1783. 
"I doubt not you thought it strange I did not come home 
when Paroled from New York, but the fever left me so low I 
could not stand the fatigues of so long a journey, and at the 
same time was destitute of money to support me on the road. 

"Capt. Daniel Adams gave me a kind offer to go with him 
and laid me in a Venture which don't at present seem to succeed 
so well as I would wish. However, I shall bring you- home 
something for yourself and hope to see you soon. I desire if 
any person should make any inquiry where we are, you would 

147 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

answer at the Eastwd. for I don't know whether the trade is 
opened among you or not. However, we are not the only 
vessel that's here from the Thirteen States. 

"We are treated very politely by his Excellency, and the 
Inhabitants, and I've a number of old friends here, and shall 
give you an acct. of them on my return." 

During the summer of 1783, William Russell returned to 
Cambridge, broken in health, with a scanty reward from his 
trading venture. He tried to gather together enough pupils to 
form a small school in his living quarters at the "Light House 
Tavern," Cambridge. This endeavor was short-lived, for he 
was fast wasting with consumption. He died in the spring 
following his return from the sea whereon he had suffered 
greatly for his Country. He was no more than thirty-five years 
old when his untimely end came, but his life was exceedingly 
worth while even though it was his lot rather to endure than to 
achieve. Nor could he have desired any more worthy obituary, 
nor wished to preach a more inspiring doctrine to later genera- 
tions of free-born Americans than was voiced in these words 
sent to his wife from Old Mill Prison, England, one hundred 
and twenty-six years ago : 

"I think many in the Yard will enter into the King's service. 
And I should myself, was it not that (by so doing) I must sell 
my Country, and that which is much more dearer to me, yourself 
and my children, but I rely wholly on God, knowing He will 
deliver me in His own good time." 



148 



CHAPTER IX 

RICHARD DERBY AND HIS SON JOHN 

(1774-1792) 

THE first armed resistance to British troops in the Ameri- 
can colonies was made at Salem and led by Captain 
Richard Derby of the third generation of the most 
notable seafaring family in this country's annals. Born in 
1712, he lived through the Revolution, and his career as a 
shipmaster, merchant and patriot covered the greater part of 
the American maritime history of the eighteenth century. 
Until 1757, when he retired from active service on the sea, his 
small vessels of from fifty to one hundred tons burden were 
carrying fish, lumber and provisions to the West Indies and 
fetching home sugar, molasses, cotton, rum and claret, or bring- 
ing rice and naval stores from Carolina. With the returns 
from these voyages, assorted cargoes were laden for voyages 
to Spain and Madeira and the proceeds remitted in bills 
on London, or in wine, salt, fruit, oil, lead and handkerchiefs 
to America. 

Captain Richard Derby's vessels ran the gauntlet of the 
privateers during the French War from 1756 to 1763, and their 
owner's letters to his London agents describe them as mounting 
from eight to twelve cannon, mostly six-pounders, "with four 
cannon below decks for close quarters." Accustomed to 
fighting his way where he could not go peaceably, Richard 
Derby and the men of his stamp whose lives and fortunes were 
staked on the high seas, felt the fires of their resentment against 

149 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

England wax hotter and hotter as her shipping laws smote their 
interests with increasing oppression. 

In fact, the spirit of independence and protest against inter- 
ference by the mother country had begun to stir in the seaport 
towns a full century before the outbreak of armed revolution. 
It is recorded in Salem annals that "when it was reported to 
the Lords of Plantations that the Salem and Boston merchants' 
vessels arrived daily from Spain, France, Holland, and the 
Canaries (in 1763) which brought wines, linens, silks and fruits, 
and these were exchanged with the other colonies for produce 
which was carried to the aforesaid kingdoms without coming to 
England, complaint was made to the Magistrates that these 
were singular proceedings. Their reply was 'that they were 
His Majesty's Vice-Admirals in those seas and they would do 
that which seemed good to them. ' " 

The spirit of those "Vice Admirals" who proposed to do 
what seemed good to them continued to flourish and grow 
bolder in its defiance of unjust laws, and the port of Salem was 
primed and ready for open rebellion long before that fateful 
April day at Lexington and Concord. In 1771, four years 
before the beginning of the Revolution, the Salem Gazette pub- 
lished on the first anniversary of the "Boston Massacre," the 
following terrific proclamation framed in a border of black in 
token of mournins : 



" As a Solemn and Perpetual Memorial : 

" Of the Tyranny of the British Administration of Government 
in the years 1768, 1769, and 1770; 

"Of the fatal and destructive Consequences of Quartering 
Armies, in Time of Peace, in populous cities; 
" Of the ridiculous Policy and infamous Absurdity of supporting 
Civil Government hy a Military Force. 

150 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

" Of the Great Duty and Necessity of firmly opposing Despotism 
at its first Approaches; 

" Of the detestable Principles and arbitrary Conduct of those 
Ministers in Britain who advised, and of their Tools in America 
who desired the Introduction of a Standing Army in this Province 
in the year 1768; 

" Of the irrefragible Proof which those ministers themselves 
thereby produced, that the Civil Government, as by them 
Administered, was weak, wicked, and tyrannical; 
" Of the vile Ingratitude and abominable Wickedness of every 
American who abetted and encouraged, either in Thought, 
Word or Deed, the establishment of a Standing Army among his 
Countr}Tnen ; 

" Of the unaccountable Conduct of those Civil Governors, the 
immediate Representatives of His Majesty, who, while the 
Military was triumphantly insulting the whole Legislative 
Authority of the State, and while the blood of the Massacred 
Inhabitants was flow^ing in the Streets, persisted in repeatedly 
disclaiming all authority of relieving the People, by any the 
least removal of the Troops : 

" And of the Savage cruelty of the Immediate Perpetrators : 
" Be it forever Remembered 
" That this day. The Fifth of March, is the Anniversary of 
Boston Massacre in King St. Boston, 
New England, 1770. 
"In which Five of his Majesty's Subjects were slain and six 
wounded, By the discharge of a number of Muskets from a 
Part of Soldiers under the Command of Capt. Thomas Preston, 

" God Save the People ! 
"Salem, March 5, 1771." 

The fuse w^as laid to the powder by the arrival of Lieutenant 
General Thomas Gage as the first military governor of Massa- 

151 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

chusetts in May, 1774. He at once moved the seat of govern- 
ment from Boston to Salem which was the second town in 
importance of the colony, and Salem began to exhibit symptoms 
of active hostility. Gage's change of administrative head- 
quarters was accompanied by two companies of the Sixty-fourth 
Regiment of the line. Colonel Alexander Leslie, which were 
encamped beyond the outskirts of the town. The presence of 
these troops was a red rag to the people of Salem, and further- 
more, Gage outraged public opinion by proposing to choose his 
own councillors, which appointments had been previously con- 
ceded to the Provincial Assembly. A new Act of Parliament, 
devised to suit the occasion, eliminated the councillors who had 
been named by the Assembly or General Court, and Gage ad- 
journed this body, then in session in Boston, and ordered it to 
reconvene in Salem on June 7th. 

When the Assembly met in Salem it passed a resolution 
protesting against its removal from Boston, and acted upon no 
other political measures for ten days when the House adopted 
a resolution appointing as delegates to the Congress at Phila- 
delphia, James Bowdoin, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, 
John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine "to consult upon meas- 
ures for the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and 
the Colonies." This action angered General Gage, and he at 
once prepared a proclamation dissolving the General Court. 
His secretary posted off to the Salem "town house" to deliver 
said proclamation, but he was refused admittance, word being 
brought out to him that the " orders were to keep the door fast." 
Therefore the defeated secretary read the document to the 
curious crowd outside and afterwards in the empty council 
chamber. So ended the last Provincial Assembly of Massa- 
chusetts under a British Governor. 

Having moved his headquarters to Salem, General Gage let 
it be known that he regarded the odious Boston Port Bill as a 

152 




Ricliard Derby 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

measure which must be maintained by mihtary law and an 
army of twenty thousand men if needs be. He also suppressed 
the town meetings, appointed new councillors, and heaped up 
other grievances with such wholesale energy that Salem flew up 
in arms and defied him. A town meeting had been called for 
August 24th to choose delegates to a county convention, and the 
people of the town refused to harken unto the order prohibiting 
their most jealously guarded institution of local government, the 
town meeting. Gage hurried back from Boston, took command 
of his troops, and ordered the Fifty-ninth Regiment of foot to 
make ready for active service. It is recorded that he showed 
"Indecent passion, denounced the meeting as treasonable and 
spoke with much vehemence of voice and gesture, threatened the 
committee of the town whom he met at the house of Colonel 
Brown, and ordered up his troops." 

The citizens thereupon held a meeting in the open air, chose 
their delegates to the county convention, and dispersed. Timothy 
Pickering, afterwards Washington's Secretary of War, and other 
members of the Committee were placed under arrest for their 
part in this town meeting. Before nightfall of the same day 
three thousand men of Salem and nearby towns had armed them- 
selves with muskets and were ready to march to the rescue if 
their town meeting should be further molested, or British troops 
employed to enforce any further punishments. 

General Gage had declared with an oath that he would 
transport every man of the Committee, and the "embattled 
farmers " and sailors feared lest these fellow townsmen of theirs 
might be carried on board the frigate Scarboro which was making 
ready to sail for England. An express rider was sent out from 
Boston at midnight to carry the warning of the proposed sailing 
of this man-of-war, and with the threat of transportation bracing 
their resolution, the men of Salem replied that " they were ready 
to receive any attacks they might be exposed to for acting in 

153 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

pursuance to the laws and interests of their country, as becomes 
men and Christians." 

The issue was not forced by General Gage and having made 
a failure of the campaign and a blunder of the transfer of the 
seat of government he returned to Boston with his troops in 
September. In February of the following year, 1775, he was 
informed that the Provincial Congress had stored a large amount 
of munitions and a number of cannon in Salem, and he ordered 
Colonel Leslie to embark in a transport with a battalion of 
infantry, disembark at Marblehead, march across to Salem and 
seize this material of war. These troops, two hundred and fifty 
strong, sailed from Boston at night and landed on the Marble- 
head beach Sunday afternoon. Major Pedrick, a patriot of the 
town, at once mounted a horse and galloped to Salem, two miles 
away, to carry warning of this invasion. The British infantry 
marched along the turnpike until they came to the North River, 
a small, navigable stream making up from Salem Harbor. This 
was spanned by a drawbridge, and Colonel Leslie was much 
disturbed to find the drawbridge raised and a formidable 
assemblage of Salem citizens buzzing angrily at the farther side 
of the stream. The British officer had no orders to force the 
passage, and the situation was both delicate and awkward in 
the extreme. Timothy Pickering had been chosen colonel of 
the First Regiment of militia and forty of his armed men were 
mustered, drawn up ready to fire at the order. Colonel Leslie 
threatened to let loose a volley of musketry to clear the road, and 
was told by Captain John Felt of Salem : 

" You had better not fire, for there is a multitude, every man 
of whom is ready to die in this strife." 

Some of the more adventurous patriots climbed to the top of 
the raised drawbridge and hurled insulting taunts at the British 
infantry, yelling "Fire and be damned to you." Rev. Thomas 
Barnard of the North Church tried to make peace and addressed 

154 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

Colonel Leslie: "You cannot commit this violation against 
innocent people, here on this holy day, without sinning against 
God and humanity. Let me entreat you to return." 

At the head of the crowd of armed men of Salem stood Captain 
Richard Derby. He owned eight of the nineteen cannon which 
had been collected for the use of the Provincial Congress and he 
had not the slightest notion of surrendering them. There was 
a parley while Colonel Leslie argued that he was in lawful use 
of the King's highway. The Salem rejoinder was to the effect 
that the road and the bridge were private property to be taken 
from them only by force and under martial law. At this junc- 
ture, when bloody collision seemed imminent. Captain Richard 
Derby took command of the situation, and roared across the 
stream, as if he were on his own quarterdeck: 

" Find the cannon if you can. Take them if you can. They 
will never be surrendered." 

A fine portrait of this admirable old gentleman has been 
preserved, and in a well-powdered wig, with a spyglass in his 
hand, he looks every inch the man who hurled this defiance at 
Great Britain and dared a battalion of His Majesty's foot to 
knock the chip off his stalwart shoulder. Colonel Leslie made 
a half-hearted attempt to set his men across the river in boats, 
and it was at this time that the only casualty occurred, a Salem 
man, Joseph Whicher, receiving a bayonet thrust. Meanwhile 
the Marblehead regiment of patriot militia had been mustered 
under arms, and the Minute Men of Danvers were actually on 
the march toward the North River bridge. Perceiving that to 
force a passage meant to set the whole colony in a blaze, and 
unwilling to shoulder so tremendous a responsibility without 
orders from General Gage, the British colonel delayed for fur- 
ther discussion. At length Captain Derby and his friends pro- 
posed that in order to satisfy Colonel Leslie's ideas of duty and 
honor, he should be permitted to cross the bridge and immedi- 

155 



The Shijjs and Sailors of Old Salem 

ately thereafter return whence he came. This odd compromise 
was accepted, and after marching to the farther side of the river 
the troops faced about and footed back to their transport at 
Marblehead, without finding the cannon they had come out to 
take. It was a victory for Captain Richard Derby and his 
townsmen and well worth a conspicuous place in the history of 
the beginnings of the American Revolution. 

Another prominent figure in this tremendously dramatic 
situation was Colonel David Mason, a veteran soldier who had 
commanded a battery in the French War in 1756-7, and a 
scientist of considerable distinction who had made discoveries 
in electricity of such importance that he was requested to 
journey to Philadelphia to discuss them with Doctor Franklin. 
Colonel Mason was a man of great public spirit and patriotism, 
and in November, 1774, he had received an appointment as 
Engineer from the " Massachusetts Committee of Safety, " which 
was the first military appointment of the Revolutionary War. 
He was from this time actively engaged in collecting military 
stores for the use of his country and making secret preparation 
for the approaching contest with England. He had obtained 
from Captain Derby the cannon which Colonel Leslie wished 
to confiscate and had given them to a Salem blacksmith to have 
the iron work for the carriages made and fitted. 

Colonel Mason resided near the North Bridge and Doctor 
Barnard's church. When he heard the British troops were 
drawing near he ran into the North Church and disrupted the 
afternoon service by shouting at the top of his voice: "The 
regulars are coming and are now near Malloon's Mills." He and 
others in authority among their fellow-townsmen tried to control 
the hotheads and avert hostilities. But the task was made diffi- 
cult by defiant patriots who bellowed across the drawbridge : 

"Soldiers, red jackets, lobster coats, cowards, damn your 
government." 

156 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

A high-spirited dame, Sarah Tarrant by name, poked her head 
out of a window of her cottage overlooking the scene and shrilly 
addressed the British colonel: 

" Go home and tell your master he has sent you on a fool's 
errand, and broken the peace of our Sabbath. What? Do you 
think we were born in the woods to be frightened by owls? Fire 
at me if you have the courage, but I doubt it." 

John Howard of Marblehead, who was one of the militia men 
under arms, stated in his recollections of the affair at the North 
Bridge that there were eight military companies in Marblehead 
at that time, comprising nearly the whole male population 
between sixteen and sixty years of age. They were all promptly 
assembled under Colonel Orne, to the number of a thousand 
men. Their orders were "to station themselves behind the 
houses and fences along the road prepared to fall upon the 
British on their return from Salem, if it should be found that 
hostile measures had been used by them; but if it should appear 
that no concerted act of violence upon the persons or property 
of the people had been committed, they were charged not to 
show themselves, but to allow the British detachment to return 
unmolested to their transport." 

The episode was taken seriously in England as shown by an 
item in the Gentleman's Magazine of London of April 17, 1775, 
which reported : " By a ship just arrived at Bristol from America, 
it is reported that the Americans have hoisted the standard of 
liberty at Salem." 

William Gavett of Salem wrote an account of the affair of 
which he was an eye-witness and described certain lively inci- 
dents as follows: 

" One David Boyce, a Quaker, had gone out with his team to 
assist in carrying the guns out of reach of the troops, and they 
were conveyed to the neighborhood of what was then called 
Buffum's hill, to the northwest of the road leading to Danvers 

157 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and near the present estate of Gen. Devereux. My father 
looked in between the platoons, as I heard him tell my mother, 
to see if he could recognize any of the soldiers who had been 
stationed at Fort William on the Neck, many of whom were 
known to him, but he could discover no familiar faces and was 
blackguarded by the soldiers for his inquisitiveness, who asked 
him, with oaths, what he was looking after. The northern 
leaf of the draw was hoisted when the troops approached the 
bridge, which prevented them from going any further. Their 
commander (Col. Leslie) then went upon West's, now Brown's, 
wharf, and Capt. John Felt followed him. He then remarked 
to Capt. Felt, or in his hearing, that he should be obliged to fire 
upon the people on the northern side of the bridge if they did 
not lower the leaf. Capt. Felt told him if the troops did fire 
they would be all dead men, or words to that effect. It was 
understood afterwards that if the troops fired upon the people, 
Capt. Felt intended to grapple with Col. Leslie and jump 
into the river, for said he, ' I would willingly be drowned myself 
to be the death of one Englishman.' Mr. Wm. Northey, 
observing the menacing attitude assumed by Capt. Felt, now 
remarked to him, ' don't you know the danger you are in oppos- 
ing armed troops, and an officer with a drawn sword in his 
hand.'^' The people soon commenced scuttling two gondolas 
which lay on the western side of the bridge and the troops also 
got into them to prevent it. One Joseph Whicher, the foreman 
in Col. Sprague's distillery, was at work scuttling the Colonel's 
gondola, and the soldiers ordered him to desist and threatened 
to stab him with their bayonets if he did not — whereupon he 
opened his breast and dared them to strike. They pricked his 
breast so as to draw blood. He was very proud of this wound 
in after life and was fond of exhibiting it." 

It was a son of this Captain Richard Derby who carried to 
England the first news of the Battle of Lexington in the swift 

158 




2; 



Richard Derby mid his Son John 

schooner Quero, as the agent of the Provincial Congress. No 
American's arrival in London ever produced so great a sensa- 
tion as did that of this Salem sailor. Captain John Derby, in 
May, 1775. He reached England in advance of the king's 
messenger dispatched by General Gage, and startled the British 
nation with the tidings of the clash of arms w^hich meant the 
loss of an American empire. 

Three days after the fight at Lexington, the Provincial Con- 
gress met at Concord, and appointed a committee "to take 
depositions in perpetuam, from which a full account of the 
transactions of the troops under General Gage in the route to 
and from Concord on Wednesday last may be collected to be 
sent to England by the first ship from Salem." 

Captain Richard Derby was a member of this Congress, and 
he offered his fast schooner Quero of sixty-two tons for this 
purpose, his son Richard, Jr., to fit her out, and his son John 
to command her for this dramatic voyage. Old Captain Rich- 
ard, hero of the North River bridge affair, was a sturdy patriot 
and a smart seaman. He knew his schooner and he knew his 
son John, and the news would get to England as fast as sail 
could speed it. 

General Gage had sent his official messages containing the 
news of the Lexington fight by the "Royal Express-packet" 
Sukey, which sailed on April 24th. Captain John Derby in the 
Quero did not get his sailing orders from the Provincial Congress 
until three days later, on April 27th. These orders read as 
follows : 

"Resolved: that Captain Derby be directed and he hereby 
is directed to make for Dublin, or any other good port in Ireland, 
and from thence to cross to Scotland or England, and hasten to 
London. This direction is given so that he may escape all 
enemies that may be in the chops of the Channel to stop the 

159 



The Ships and Sailoi's of Old Salem 

communication of the Provincial Intelligence to the agent. He 
will forthwith deliver his papers to the agent on reaching London. 

" J. Warren, Chairman. 
"P. S. — ^You are to keep this order a profound secret from 
every person on earth." 

The letter which Captain John Derby carried with his dis- 
patches read as follows: 

"In Provincial Congress, Watertown, 

"April 26, 1775. 
"To the Hon. Benjamin Franklin, Esq., London: 

" Sir : From the entire confidence we repose in your faithful- 
ness and abilities, we consider it for the happiness of this Colony 
that the important trust of agency for it, on this day of un- 
equalled distress, is devolved on your hands; and we doubt not 
your attacliment to the cause of the liberties of mankind will 
make every possible exertion in our behalf a pleasure to you, 
although our circumstances will compel us often to interrupt 
your repose by matters that will surely give you pain. A single 
instance hereof is the occasion of the present letter; the contents 
of this packet will be our apology for troubling you with it. 
From these you will see how and by whom we are at last plunged 
into the horrours of a most unnatural war. Our enemies, we 
are told, have despatched to Great Britain a fallacious account 
of the tragedy they have begun; to prevent the operation of 
which to the publick injury, we have engaged the vessel that con- 
veys this to you as a packet in the service of this Colony, and we 
request your assistance in supplying Captain Derby, who com- 
mands her, with such necessaries as he shall want, on the credit 
of your constituents in Massachusetts Bay. But we most 
ardently wish that the several papers herewith enclosed may be 
immediately printed and dispersed through every Town in 
England, and especially communicated to the Lord Mayor, 

160 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London, that 
they may take such order thereon as they may think proper, and 
we are confident your fidelity will make such improvement of 
them as shall convince all who are not determined to be in ever- 
lasting blindness, that it is the united efforts of both Englands 
that must save either. But whatever price our brethren in one 
may be pleased to put on their constitutional liberties, we are 
authorized to assure you that the inhabitants of the other, with 
the greatest unanimity, are inflexibly resolved to sell theirs only 
at the price of their lives. 

"Signed by order of the Provincial Congress, 

" Jos. Warren, President pro tern." 

John Derby cracked on sail like a true son of his father, and 
made a passage across the Atlantic of twenty-nine days, hand- 
somely beating the lubberly "Royal-Express packet" Sukey, 
which had sailed from Boston four days ahead of him. It is 
supposed that he made a landing at the Isle of Wight, went 
ashore alone, and hurried to London as fast as he could. The 
tidings he bore were too alarming and incredible to be accepted 
by the statesmen and people of Great Britain. Nothing had 
been heard from General Gage and here was an audacious 
Yankee skipper, dropped in from Heaven knew where, spread- 
ing it broadcast that the American colonists were in full revolt 
after driving a force of British regulars in disastrous rout. From 
the office of the Secretary of State, Lord Dartmouth issued this 
skeptical statement. May 30th: 

"A report having been spread and an account having been 
printed and published, of a skirmish between some people of 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and a detachment of His 
Majesty's troops, it is proper to inform the publick that no ad- 
vices have as yet been received in the American Department of 
any such event. There are reasons to believe that there are 

161 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

dispatches from General Gage on Board the Sukey, Captain 
Brown, which though she sailed four days before the vessel that 
brought the printed accounts, is not arrived." 

On the following day, Hutchinson, who had preceded Gage 
as Governor of Massachusetts, wrote from London to his son 
in Boston : 

"Captain Darby, in ballast arrived at Southampton from 
Marblehead the 27, and came to London the next evening. I 
am greatly distressed for you. Darby's own accounts confirm 
many parts of the narrative from the Congress, and they that 
know him say he deserves credit and that he has a good charac- 
ter; but I think those people would not have been at the expense 
of a vessel from Marblehead or Salem to England for the sake 
of telling the truth." 

On June 1st, Lord Dartmouth wrote General Gage as follows: 

"Whitehall, 1st June, 1775. 

" Sir: Since my letter to you of 27th ult. an account has been 
printed here, accompanied with depositions to verify it, of 
skirmishes between a detachment of the troops under your com- 
mand and different bodies of the Provincial Militia. 

" It appears upon the fullest inquiry that this account, which 
is chiefly taken from a Salem newspaper, has been published by 
a Capt. Darby, who arrived on Friday or Saturday at Southamp- 
ton in a small vessel in ballast, directly from Salem, and from 
every circumstance, relating to this person and the vessel, it is 
evident he was employed by the Provincial Congress to bring 
this account, which is plainly made up for the purpose of con- 
veying every possible prejudice and misrepresentation of the 
truth. 

" From the answers he has given to such questions as has been 
asked, there is the greatest probability that the whole amounts 
to no more than that a Detachment, sent by you to destroy 

162 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

Cannon and Stores collected at Concord for the purpose of 
aiding Rebellion, were fired upon, at different times, by 
people of the Country in small bodies from behind trees and 
houses, but that the party effected the service they went upon, 
and returned to Boston, and I have the satisfaction to tell you 
that, the affair being considered in that light by all discerning 
men, it has had no other effect here than to raise that just indig- 
nation which every honest man must feel at the rebellious con- 
duct of the New England Colonies. At the same time it is 
very much to be lamented that we have not some account from 
you of the transaction, which I do not mention from any sup- 
position that you did not send the earliest intelligence of it, for 
we know from Darby that a vessel with dispatches sailed four 
days before him. We expect the arrival of that vessel with great 
impatience, but 'till she arrives I can form no decisive judg- 
ment of what has happened, and therefore can have nothing 
more to add but that I am, &c., Dartmouth." 

Alas for British hopes and fears, the eagerly awaited arrival 
of the Sukey confirmed the disastrous news revealed by Captain 
John Derby, as may be learned from the following article in 
The London Press: 

" To THE PUBLICK. 

"London, June 12, 1775. 
"When the news of a massacre first arrived, the pensioned 
writer of the Gazette entreated the publick 'to suspend their 
judgment, as Government had received no tidings of the mat- 
ter.' It was added that there was every reason to expect the 
despatches from General Gage, by a vessel called the Sukey. 
The publick have suspended their judgment; they have waited 
the arrival of the Sukey; and the humane part of mankind have 
wished that the fatal tale related by Captain Derby might prove 
altogether fictitious. To the great grief of every thinking man, 

163 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

this is not the case. We are now in possession of both the 
accounts. The Americans have given their narrative of the 
massacre; the favorite servants have given a Scotch account 
of the skirmish. In what one material fact do the two relations, 
when contrasted with each other, disagree? The Americans 
said 'that a detachment of the King's Troops advanced toward 
Concord ; that they attempted to secure two bridges on different 
roads beyond Concord ; that when they reached Lexington they 
found a body of Provincials exercising on a green; that on dis- 
covering the Provincial militia thus employed, the King's Troops 
called out to them to disperse, damned them for a parcel of 
rebels, and killed one or two, as the most effectual method 
intimidating the rest.' This the WTiter of the Scotch account in 
the Gazette styles, 'marching up to the rebels to inquire the 
reason of being so assembled.' Both relations, however, agree 
in this, that a question was asked ; the pensioned varnisher only 
saying that it was asked in a civil way, attended with the loss of 
blood. 

"Thus far, then, the facts, in every material circumstance, 
precisely agree; and as yet, we have every reason to believe 
that the Salem Gazette is to the full as authentick as our Gov- 
ernment paper, which, as a literary composition, is a disgrace to 
the Kingdom. 

"The Salem Gazette assured us that the King's Troops were 
compelled to return from Concord; that a handful of militia 
put them to rout, and killed and wounded several as they fled. 
Is this contradicted in the English Gazette? Quite the contrary; 
it is confirmed. The Scotch account of the skirmish acknowl- 
edges that 'on the hasty return of the troops from Concord, 
they were very much annoyed, and several of them were killed 
and wounded.' The Scotch account also adds 'that the Pro- 
vincials kept up a scattering fire during the whole of the march 
of the King's Troops of fifteen miles, by which means several of 

164 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

them were killed and wounded.' If the American Militia 
'kept up a scattering fire on the King's Troops, of fifteen miles,' 
the Provincials must have pursued, and the regulars must have 
fled, which confirms the account given in the Salem Gazette, 
wherein it is asserted that the Regulars 'were forced to retreat.' 
Whether they marched like mutes at a funeral, or whether they 
fled like the relations and friends of the present ministry who 
were amongst the rebel army at the battle of Cullodon, is left 
entirely to the conjecture of the reader; though it should seem 
that a scattering fire, poured in upon a retreating enemy for 
fifteen miles together, would naturally, like goads applied to the 
sides of oxen, make them march off as fast as they could." 

The newspaper account which Captain Derby carried to 
London was printed in The Essex Gazette of the issue of " from 
Tuesday, April 18, to Tuesday, April 25." The Salem Gazette 
had suspended publication the day before the great events of 
Concord and Lexington, and therefore it was The Essex Gazette 
of Salem which was taken to England, the slight error in the 
name of the journal being immaterial. This edition of the 
little four-paged weekly newspaper which shook the British 
Empire to its foundations, was not made up after the pattern of 
modern " scarehead " journals. The story of Concord and 
Lexington was tucked away on an inside page with no head- 
line, title or caption whatever, and was no more than a column 
long. It may be called the first American war correspondence 
and no " dispatches from the front " in all history have equaled 
this article in The Essex Gazette as a stupendous "beat" or 
"scoop," measured by the news it bore and the events it fore- 
shadowed. The Gazette carried on its title page the legends, 
"Containing the freshest advices, both foreign and domestic"; 
" Printed by Samuel and Ebenezer Hall at their Printing-OflSce 
near the Town House." 

165 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

The article in question read, for the most part, as follows: 

"Salem, April 25. 

"Last Wednesday, the 19th of April, the troops of his Britan- 
nick Majesty Commenced Hostilities upon the People of this 
Province, attended with circumstances of cruelty not less brutal 
than what our venerable Ancestors received from the vilest 
savages of the Wilderness. The Particulars relative to this 
interesting Event, by which we are involved in all the Horrors 
of a Civil War, we have endeavoured to collect as well as the 
present confused state of affairs will admit. 

" On Tuesday Evening a Detachment from the Army, con- 
sisting, it is said, of 8 or 900 men, commanded by Lieut. Col. 
Smith, embarked at the Bottom of the Common in Boston, on 
board a Number of Boats, and landed at Phip's farm, a little 
way up Charles River, from whence they proceeded with Silence 
and Expedition, on their way to Concord, about 18 miles from 
Boston. The People were soon alarmed, and began to assemble, 
in several towns, before Day-light, in order to watch the Motion 
of the Troops. At Lexington, 6 miles below Concord, a Com- 
pany of Militia, of about 100 Men, mustered near the Meeting 
House; the Troops came in Sight of them just before Sun-rise, 
and running within a few rods of them, the Commanding Officer 
accosted the Militia in words to this Effect: 

'^'Disperse, you Rebels — Damn you, throw down your Arms 
and disperse.' 

" Upon which the Troops huzza 'd, and immediately one or 
tAvo Officers discharged their Pistols, which were instantaneously 
followed by the Firing of 4 or 5 of the Soldiers, and then there 
seemed to be a general discharge from the whole Body; Eight of 
our Men were killed, and nine wounded. In a few minutes 
after this action the Enemy renewed their March for Concord ; 
at which Place they destroyed several Carriages, Carriage 

166 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

Wheels, and about 20 barrels of Flour; all belonging to the 
Province. Here about 150 Men going toward a Bridge, of 
which the Enemy were in Possession, the latter fired and killed 
2 of our Men, who then returned the Fire, and obliged the 
Enemy to retreat back to Lexington, where they met Lord 
Percy, with a large Reinforcement, with two Pieces of Cannon. 
The Enemy now having a Body of about 1800 Men, made a 
Halt, picked up many of their Dead, and took care of their 
Wounded. At Menotomy, a few of our Men attacked a Party 
of twelve of the Enemy (carrying stores and Provisions to the 
Troops), killed one of them, wounded several, made the Rest 
Prisoners, and took Possession of all their arms. Stores, Pro- 
visions, &c., without any loss on our side. The Enemy having 
halted one or two Hours at Lexington found it necessary to 
make a second Retreat, carrying with them many of their Dead 
and Wounded, who they put into Chaises and on Horses that 
they found standing in the Road. They contmued their Re- 
treat from Lexington to Charlestown with great Precipitation; 
and notwithstanding their Field Pieces, our People continued 
the Pursuit, firing at them till they got to Charlestown Neck 
(which they reached a little after Sunset), over which the Enemy 
passed, proceeded up Bunker Hill, and soon afterward went into 
the Town, under the protection of the Somerset Man of War of 
64 guns." 

There follows a list of the names of the Provincial Casualities, 
numbering 38 killed and 19 wounded, Avith accusations of savage 
and barbarous behavior on the part of the British troops. The 
writer then goes on to say: 

"I have seen an account of the Loss of the Enemy, said to 
have come from an officer of one of the Men of War; by which 
it appears that 63 of the Regulars, and 49 Marines were killed, 
and 103 of both wounded; in all 215. Lieut. Gould of the 4th 

167 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Regiment, who is wounded, and Lieut. Potter of the Marines, 
and about twelve soldiers, are Prisoners. . . . 

"The Public most sincerely sympathize with the Friends 
and Relations of our deceased Brethren, who gloriously sacri- 
ficed their Lives in fighting for the Liberties of their Country. 
By their noble, intrepid Conduct, in helping to defeat the Forces 
of an ungrateful Tyrant, they have endeared their Memories to 
the present generation who will Transmit their Names to Pos- 
terity with the highest Honour." 

The opposite page of The Gazette contained an editorial, or 
communication, signed " Johannes in Ermo," which Captain 
John Derby must have enjoyed spreading broadcast in London. 
It was a battle-hymn in prose, the voice of a free people in arms, 
indomitable defiance at white-heat. This was the message it 
flung to the mother country over seas: 

" Great Britain, adieu ! no longer shall we honour you as our 
mother; you are become cruel; you have not so much bowels 
as the sea monsters toward their young ones; we have cried to 
you for justice, but behold violence and bloodshed ! your sword 
is drawn offensively, and the sword of New England defensively; 
by this stroke you have broken us off" from you, and effectually 
alienated us from you. O, Britain, see you to your own house! 

"King George the third, adieu! no more shall we cry to you 
for protection, no more shall we bleed in defense of your person. 
Your breach of covenant ; your violation of faith ; your turning a 
deaf ear to our cries for justice, for covenanted protection and 
salvation from the oppressive, tyrannical, and bloody measures 
of the British Parliament, and putting a sanction upon all their 
measures to enslave and butcher us, have Dissolved our Allegi- 
ance to your Crown and Government! your sword that ought 
in justice to protect us, is now drawn with a witness to destroy us ! 
Oh, George, see thou to thine house! 

"General Gage, pluck up stakes and be gone; you have 

168 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

drawn the sword, you have slain in cool blood a number of inno- 
cent New England men — you have made the assault — and be it 
known to you, the defensive sword of New England is now drawn, 
it now studies just revenge; and it wdll not be satisfied until your 
blood is shed — and the blood of every son of violence under your 
command — and the blood of every traitorous Tory under your 
protection; therefore, depart with all your master's forces — 
depart from our territories, return to your master soon, or 
destruction will come upon you; every moment you tarry in New 
England, in the character of your Master's General, you are 
viewed as an Intruder, and must expect to be treated by us as 
our inveterate enemy. 

" O, my dear New England, hear thou the alarm of war! the 
call of Heaven is to arms ! to arms ! The sword of Great Britain 
is drawn against us ! without provocation how many of our sons 
have been fired upon and slain in cool blood, in the cool of the 
day. . . . 

"I beseech you, for God's sake, and for your own sake, watch 
against every vice, every provocation of God Almighty against 
us; against intemperance in drinking — against profane language 
and all debauchery! — and let us all rely on the army of the 
Most High. ..." 

That after a safe homeward voyage Captain Derby reported 
to General Washington in person* on the 18th of July, appears 
from the Essex Gazette for that month as follows : 

" Cambridge, July 21. 

"Capt. John Derby, who sailed from Salem for London a 
few Days after the Battle of Lexington, returned last Tuesday, 

* (July 18, 1774.) "Captain John Derby who carried to England the tidings 
of Lexington battle, appears at headquarters in Cambridge and relates that the 
news of the commencement of the American war threw the people, especially 
in London, into great consternation, and occasioned a considerable fall of 
stocks; that many there sympathized with the Colonies." (Felt's Annals of 
Salem.) 

169 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and the same Day came to Head-Quarters in this Place. Very 
little Intelligence has yet transpired — we only learn, that the 
News of the Commencement of the American War through the 
People in England, especially the City of London, into great Con- 
sternation, and occasioned a considerable Fall of the Stocks. 
That the Ministry (knowing nothing of the Battle till they saw 
it published in the London papers) advertised, in the Gazette, 
that they had received no Account of any Action, and pretended 
to believe that there had been none. That the Parliament was 
prorogued two Days before Capt. Derby arrived, but it was said 
would be immediately called together again. That, when he 
left London, which was about the 1st of June, no Account of 
Hostilities had been received by the Ministry from General 
Gage, notwithstanding the Vessel he dispatched sailed four 
Days before Capt. Derby. That our friends increased in Num- 
ber; and that many who had remained neuter in the dispute, 
began to express themselves warmly in our Favor: That we, 
however, have no Reason to expect any Mercy from the Min- 
istry, who seem determined to pursue their Measures (long 
since concerted) for ruining the British Empire. 

" Capt. Derby brought a few London Papers, some as late as 
the 1st of June, but we have not been able to obtain a Sight of 
them. We are informed they contain very little News, and 
scarce any Remarks on American Affairs." 

It was singularly appropriate that this same Captain John 
Derby who carried the news to England of the beginning of the 
American Revolution should have been the shipmaster to carry 
home to the United States the first tidings of peace in 1783, when 
he arrived from France in the ship Astrea with the message 
that a treaty had been signed. 

This Captain John Derby won a claim to further notice in the 
history of his times as one of the owners of the ship Columbia 
which sailed from Boston in 1787, circumnavigated the globe, 

170 



Richard Derby and his Son John 

and on a second voyage discovered and named the mighty 
Columbia River on the northwest coast of America. The vast 
territory which includes the states of Oregon, Washington and 
Idaho was then an unknown and unexplored land, claimed by 
Spain because her navigators discovered it, by Great Britain 
because Francis Drake had sailed along the coast in 1759, by 
Russia because Bering had mapped the North Pacific and pre- 
pared for the opening in 1771 of the fur trade from Oregon to 
China. But no nation had established a foothold in this terri- 
tory and its extent and natural features were wrapped in mystery. 

In 1783, a young American seaman who had sailed with Cap- 
tain Cook on an exploring voyage of the North Pacific, published 
a chart and a journal of the voyage, and first brought to the 
attention of American shipowners the importance of the North- 
west fur trade. Ledyard was called an enthusiast, a visionary, 
until his story attracted the serious consideration of the leading 
shipping merchants of Boston and Salem. John Derby joined 
three men of Boston in the venture and the quartette of partners 
subscribed what was then a huge capital of fifty thousand dollars 
to equip and despatch a ship to the northwest coast and open an 
American trade in furs with the Indians. 

The Columbia was chosen, a ship of two hundred and thirteen 
tons, small even for that period, mounting ten cannon. Captain 
John Kcndrick was given the command. As consort and tender 
for coastwise navigation and trade a sloop of ninety tons, the 
Lady WasJiington, Captain Robert Gray, was fitted out. 

Besides the ship's stores, the two vessels carried a cargo of 
hardware, tools, utensils, buttons, toys, beads, etc., to be bar- 
tered with the Indians. The State and Federal Governments 
granted special letters to the captains, and " hundreds of medals 
signalizing the enterprise were put aboard for distribution wher- 
ever the vessel touched. Years afterward some of these medals 
and cents and half-cents of the State of Massachusetts were to 

171 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

be found in the wake of the Columbia among the Spaniards of 
South America, the Kanakas of Hawaii and the Indians of 
Oregon." * 

The two httle vessels fared bravely around Cape Horn, and 
steered north until they reached the fur wilderness country of 
the great Northwest. After many hardships and thrilling 
adventures the Columbia returned to Boston with a cargo of 
tea from China. It was a famous voyage in the history of 
American commercial enterprise, but it brought so little profit 
to the owners that Captain John Derby and one other partner 
sold out their shares in the Columbia. She was refitted, how- 
ever, and again sent to the Northwest in 1790 in command of 
Captain Gray. On this voyage Captain Gray discovered the 
Columbia River shortly after he had met at sea the English 
navigator, Vancouver, who reported passing the mouth of a 
small stream " not worthy his attention." By so close a margin 
did Vancouver miss the long-sought great river of Oregon, and 
the chance to claim the Northwestern America for the British 
flag by right of discovery. 

On May 19, 1792, Captain Gray landed with his seamen, 
after sailing twenty-five miles up the river and formally named 
it the Columbia. "It has been claimed for many men before 
and since Marcus Wliitman that they saved Oregon to the 
United States. But surely the earliest and most compelling 
title to this distinction is that Captain Robert Gray of Boston, 
and the good ship Columbia. They gave us the great river by 
the powerful right of discovery, and the great river dominated 
the region through which it ran. . . . The voyage of the 
Columbia was plainly and undeniably the first step which won 
for the United States a grip on the Oregon territory that no 
diplomatic casuitry and no arrogant bluster could shake.* 

* "The American Merchant Marine," by Winthrop L. Martin. 

172 



CHAPTER X 

ELIAS HASKET DERBY AND HIS TIMES 

(1770-1800) 

ELIAS HASKET DERBY, the son of Captain Richard 
Derby, and a brother of Captain John Derby, was the 
most conspicuous member of this great seafaring family, 
by reason of his milhon-dollar fortune, his far-seeing enterprise 
and his fleet of ships which traded with China, India, Mauritius, 
Madeira, Siam, Arabia and Europe. He was the first American 
to challenge the jealous supremacy of the East India, the Hol- 
land, the French and the Swedish chartered companies in the 
Orient. He made of commerce an amazingly bold and pic- 
turesque romance at a time when this infant republic was still 
gasping from the effects of the death grapple of the Revolution. 
He was born in 1739, went to sea as had his father and his 
grandfather before him, and like them rose to the command 
and ownership of vessels while still in his youth. As told in a 
previous chapter, he was the foremost owner of Salem privateers 
during the Revolution, and finding the large, swift and heavily 
manned ship created by the needs of war unfitted for coastwise 
and West India trade, he resolved to send them in search of 
new markets on the other side of the globe. 

No sooner was peace declared than he was making ready his 
great ship, the Grand Turk, for the first American voyage to the 
Cape of Good Hope. The Grand Turk had been built in 1781 
for privateering and as a letter of marque. She was of three 
hundred tons burden, the largest vessel built in a Salem ship- 
yard until after the Revolution, and Elias Hasket Derby was 

173 



The Ships a7id Sailors oj Old Salem 

proud of her speed, her beauty and her record. During the 
Revolution she mounted twenty-two guns and fought them 
handily. On her second cruise as a privateer she captured two 
rich prizes, took them into Bilboa, and more than paid for 
herself. Later the Grand Turk made several cruises in West 
India waters and, among other successes, captured a twenty-gun 
ship, the Pompey, from London. 

This was the ship with which Elias Hasket Derby blazed a 
trail toward the Orient, the forerunner of his pioneering ven- 
tures to the East Indies. Of the methods and enterprise of 
Elias Hasket Derby, as typified in such voyages as this of the 
Grand Turk, one of his captains, Richard Cleveland, wrote in 
his recollections of the methods and enterprise of this typical 
merchant of his time : 

"In the ordinary course of commercial education, in New 
England, boys are transferred from school to the merchant's 
desk at the age of fourteen or fifteen. When I had reached 
my fourteenth year it was my good fortune to be received in 
the counting house of Elias Hasket Derby of Salem, a merchant 
who may justly be termed the father of American commerce to 
India, one whose enterprise and commercial sagacity were 
unequalled in his day. To him our country is indebted for 
opening the valuable trade to Calcutta, before whose fortress 
his was to be the first vessel to display the American flag; and 
following up the business, he had reaped golden harvests before 
other merchants came in for a share of them. The first Ameri- 
can ships seen at the Cape of Good Hope and the Isle of France 
belonged to him. His were the first American ships which 
carried cargoes of cotton from Bombay to China, and among 
the first ships which made a direct voyage to China and back 
was one owned by him. Without possessing a scientific knowl- 
edge of the construction and sparring of ships, Mr. Derby 
seemed to have an intuitive faculty in judging of models and 

174 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

proportions, and his experiments in several instances for the 
attainment of swiftness in saihng were crowned with success 
unsurpassed in this or any other country. 

" He built several ships for the India trade immediately in the 
vicinity of the counting house, which afforded me an oppor- 
tunity of becoming acquainted with the building, sparring and 
rigghig of ships. The conversations to which I listened relating 
to the countries then newly visited by Americans, the excitement 
on the return of an adventure from them and the great profits 
which were made, always manifest from my own little adven- 
tures, tended to stimulate the desire in me of visiting those 
countries, and of sharing more largely in the advantages they 
presented." 

The Grand Turk, "the great ship," as she was called in 
Salem, was less than one hundred feet long, yet she was the 
first of that noble fleet which inspired a Salem historian. Rev. 
George Bachelor, to write in an admirable tribute to the town 
in which his life was passed: 

"After a century of comparative quiet, the citizens of this 
little town were suddenly dispersed to every part of the Oriental 
world and to every nook of barbarism which had a market and 
a shore. . . . The reward of enterprise might be the dis- 
covery of an island in which wild pepper enough to load a ship 
might be had almost for the asking, or of forests where precious 
gums had no commercial value, or spice islands unvexed and 
unvisited by civilization. Every shipmaster and every mariner 
returning on a richly loaded ship was the owner of valuable 
knowledge. 

"Rival merchants sometimes drove the work of preparation 
night and day when virgin markets had favors to be won, and 
ships which set out for unknown ports were watched when they 
slipped their cables and sailed away by night, and dogged for 
months on the high seas in the hope of discovering the secret 

175 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

well kept by owiier and crew. Every man on board was allowed 
a certain space for a little venture. People in other pursuits, 
not excepting the merchant's minister, intrusted their savings 
to the supercargo, and watched eagerly the results of their 
ventures. This great mental activity, and profuse stores of 
knowledge brought by every ship's crew, and distributed, 
together with India shawls, blue china, and unheard of curiosi- 
ties from every savage shore, gave the community a rare alertness 
of intellect." 

It was the spirit as is herein indicated that achieved its finest 
flower in such merchants as Elias Hasket Derby. When his 
ships took their departure from the Massachusetts coast they 
vanished beyond his ken for one or two years. His captains 
were intrusted with the disposal of the cargo to the best advan- 
tage. There was no sending orders by mail or cable. It was 
this continual sense of facing unknown hazards, of gambling with 
the sea and hostile, undiscovered shores that prompted those old 
shipmasters to inscribe on the title pages of their log books : 

"A Journal of an Intended Voyage by God's Assistance 
. . . Cape Ann bore W.N.W. from whence I take my 
departure. So God send the good ship to her Desired Port in 
Safety. Amen." 

When the Grand Turk made her first voyage to the Cape of 
Good Hope in 1784, commanded by Captain Jonathan Inger- 
soll, the scanty navigating equipment of his time is said to 
have consisted of "a few erroneous maps and charts, a sextant 
and a Guthrie's Grammar."* The Grand Turk made her 

* The edition of 1800 of this popular compendium of knowledge bore on the 
title page: "A New Geographical, Historical and Commercial Granunar and 
Present State of the Several Kingdoms of the World. Illustrated with a Cor- 
rect Set of INIaps, Engraved from the Most Recent Observations and Draughts 
of Geographical Travellers. The Eighteenth Edition Corrected and Consider- 
ably enlarged. London. 1800." 

The work contained " Longitude, Latitude. Bearings and Distances of Prin- 
cipal Places from London " as one of its qualifications for use among mariners. 

176 



^ 



o 







to 



r 



o 



I I 

a _^ 



- f~< 



% H 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

passage in safety and while she lay in Table Bay, Major Samuel 
Shaw, an American returning from Canton, sent a boat aboard 
for Captain Ingersoll and later wrote of this Salem venture: 

"The object was to sell, rum, cheese, salt, provisions and 
chocolate, loaf sugar, butter, etc., the proceeds of which in 
money with a quantity of ginseng, and some cash brought with 
him. Captain Ingersoll intended to invest in Bohea tea; but as 
the ships bound to Europe are not allowed to break bulk on the 
way, he was disappointed in his expectations of procuring that 
article and sold his ginseng for two-thirds of a Spanish dollar 
a pound, which is twenty per cent, better than the silver money 
of the Cape. He intended remaining a short time to purchase 
fine teas in the private trade allowed the officers on board 
India ships, and then to sail to the coast of Guinea, to dispose 
of his rum, etc., for ivory and gold dust; thence without taking 
a single slave to proceed to the West Indies and purchase sugar 
and cotton, with which he would return to Salem. Notwith- 
standing the disappointment in the principal object of the 
voyage and the consequent determination to go to the coast of 
Guinea, his resolution not to endeavor to retrieve it by pur- 
chasing slaves did the captain great honor, and reflected equal 
credit upon his employers, who, he assured me, would rather 
sink the whole capital employed than directly or indirectly be 
concerned in so infamous a trade." 

The Grand Turk returned by way of the West Indies where 
the sales of his cargo enabled her captain to load two ships for 
Salem. He sent the Grand Turk home in charge of the mate 
and returned in the Atlantic. During the voyage Captain 
Ingersoll rescued the master and mate of an English schooner, 
the Amity, whose crew had mutinied while off the Spanish 
Main. The two officers had been cast adrift in a small boat to 
perish. This was the first act in a unique drama of maritime 
coincidence. 

177 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

After the castaways had reached Salem, Captain Duncanson, 
the Enghsh master of the Amity, was the guest of Mr. Elias 
Hasket Derby while he waited for word from his owners and an 
opportunity to return to his home across the Atlantic. He 
spent much of his time on the water front as a matter of course, 
and used to stand at a window of Mr. Derby's counting house 
idly staring at the harbor. 

One day while sweeping the seaward horizon with the office 
spyglass, the forlorn British skipper let fly an oath of the most 
profound amazement. He dropped the glass, rubbed his eyes, 
chewed his beard and stared again. A schooner was making 
across the bar, and presently she stood clear of the islands at the 
harbor mouth and slipped toward an anchorage well inside. 

There was no mistaking her at this range. It was the Amity, 
his own schooner which had been taken from him in the West 
Indies, from which he and his mate had been cast adrift by 
the piratical seamen. Captain Duncanson hurried into Mr. 
Derby's private office as fast as his legs could carry him. By 
some incredible twist of fate the captors of the Amity had sailed 
her straight to her captain. 

Mr. Derby was a man of the greatest promptitude and one of 
his anchored brigs was instantly manned with a hea\y crew, two 
deck guns slung aboard, and with Captain Duncanson striding 
the quarterdeck, the brig stood down to take the Amity. It 
was Captain Duncanson who led the boarders, and the mutineers 
were soon overpowered and fetched back to Salem jail in irons. 
The grateful skipper and his mate signed a crew in Salem, and 
took the Amity to sea, a vessel restored to her own by so marvel- 
ous an event that it would be laughed out of court as material 
for fiction. 

In November, 1785, the Grand Turk was cleared, in command 
of Captain Ebenezer West for the Isle of France, but her owner 
had it in his mind, and so instructed his captain, to continue 

178 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

the voyage to Batavia and China. In June of 1787, she returned 
to Salem with a cargo of teas, silks, and nankeens; a notable 
voyage in seas when the American flag was almost unknown. 
Her successful commerce with Canton lent a slightly humorous 
flavor to the comment of the Independent Chronicle of London, 
dated July 29, 1785: 

" The Americans have given up all thought of a China trad© 
which can never be carried on to advantage without some 
settlement in the East Indies." 

Captain Ebenezer West who took the Grand Turk to the 
Orient on this voyage was a member of so admirable a family 
of American seamen and shipmasters that the records of the 
three brothers as written down in the official records of the Salem 
Marine Society deserves a place in this chapter. 

"Captain Nathaniel West was born in Salem, Jan. 31, 1756, 
and died here December 19, 1851. His elder brother, Ebenezer, 
and his younger, Edward, as well as himself, were possessed 
of great energy and enterprise, and all three early selected the 
ocean for their field of action. Ebenezer was for nearly four 
years during the Revolution a prisoner of war, and was ex- 
changed shortly before peace was proclaimed. He subsequently 
had command of E. H. Derby's famous ship, the Grand Turk, 
and in her completed the second voyage by an American vessel 
to Canton, returning to Salem in 1786. 

" Capt. Edward West, the youngest, was in command of his 
brother Nathaniel's ship, Hercides, seized in Naples in 1809, 
and had the good fortune to obtain her release in order to trans- 
port Lucien Bonaparte and family to Malta, thus saving his 
ship from confiscation. He died at Andover, June 22, 1851, 
six months before his brother Nathaniel; at the age of ninety-one. 

"In 1775, Nathaniel, at the age of nineteen, being in command 
of a merchant vessel in the West India trade, was captured by 
a British frigate, and was soon recognized by Capt. Gayton, her 

179 



The Shijjs and Sailors of Old Salem 

commander, as the son of an old friend, and was compelled to 
serve as midshipman on board a British seventy-four, under the 
command of Capt. Edwards. Of their personal kindness he 
often spoke in after life. Being on shore as officer of a press 
gang, he effected his escape in London, and made his way to 
Lisbon, where he embarked on board the Oliver Cromwell, a 
Salem privateer of sixteen guns, and returned to this port. 
On the passage, having been closely pursued for three days, 
he narrowly escaped being captured by a British frigate. Aware 
of his impending fate, if taken, he encouraged and stimulated 
the crew to the use of the sweeps, himself tugging at the oar, 
and by his energy and incessant diligence was mainly instru- 
mental in saving the ship. 

"He made several cruises in the Oliver Cromwell and other 
armed vessels, and took many prizes. He participated with the 
famous Captain of the privateer Black Prince, carrying eighteen 
guns and one hundred and fifty men. On one occasion, with 
Capt. Nathaniel Silsbee as his Lieutenant, he put into Cork 
on a dark night and cut out and took away a valuable prize. 

"Capt. West subsequently embarked In commerce and pur- 
sued it with continued success until he had amassed a large 
fortune. He was among the pioneers in various branches of 
trade, the Northwest, Cliina, East India, etc. — and knew their 
origin and progress through their various stages. In 1792, he 
built and despatched the schooner Patty, commanded by his 
brother, Capt. Edward West, and she was the first American 
vessel to visit Batavia. His ship Prudent (in 1805) was among 
the first of the very few American vessels that visited the Dutch 
Spice Islands, Amboyna, etc. His ship Minerva was the first 
Salem vessel to circumnavigate the globe, having sailed from 
here in 1800 for the N. W. coast and China. His ship Hercules, 
under his brother Edward's command, on the conclusion of the 
war with Great Britain in 1815, was the first vessel to sail from 

180 




Nathaniel West 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

the United States for the East Indies, under the terms of the 
treaty. The Hercules, built for Capt. West in 1805, was a few 
years since doing good service as a whaler out of New Bedford, 
and is, we believe, still in existence. 

"His age so nearly approximated an hundred years that we 
may say he flourished during four generations of his race, in 
the most active and enterprising walks of life. In person, Capt. 
West was of fine figure, and of a majestic mien and gait. He 
never forgot the dignity which belonged to his years and station. 
He was a gentleman of the old school in manners and dress, 
and adhered with scrupulous tenacity to the costume of his 
early years. His physical powers were so little impaired, even 
in his extreme old age, that he was frequently seen driving along 
in his gig, or walking with vigorous and elastic step, until a very 
short time before his death ; and many of our readers can recall 
his commanding and dignified appearance in our streets. He 
united in himself personal frugality, economy, and untiring 
industry; and his favorite maxim was, 'without these none can 
be rich, and with these few would be poor. ' " 

When Mr. Derby decided to push out for a share of the East 
India commerce he sent his eldest son, Elias Hasket, Jr., to 
England and the Continent as soon as he was graduated from 
Harvard College. There the young man remained until he 
had become a linguist and had made a thorough study of the 
English and French methods of trade with the Far East. 
Having laid this thorough foundation for his bold venture, 
Elias Hasket, Jr., was now sent to India where he lived three 
years in the interests of his house, and firmly established an 
immensely profitable trade which for half a century was to 
make the name of Salem far more widely know^l in Bombay 
and Canton than that of New York or Boston. A little later 
the Derby ship Astrea was showing the American flag to the 
natives of Siam. 

181 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

How fortunes were won in those brave days may be learned 
from the record of young Derby's activities while in the Far 
East. In 1788 the proceeds of one cargo enabled him to buy a 
ship and a brigantine in the Isle of France (Mauritius) in the 
Indian Ocean. These two vessels he sent to Bombay to load 
with cotton. Two other ships of his house, the Astrea and the 
LigJit Horse he filled with cargoes at Calcutta and Rangoon, 
and sent them home to Salem. Then he returned in still 
another ship, the brig Henry. 

When the profit of these several transactions were reckoned it 
was found that more than $100,000 had been earned by this 
little fleet above all outlay. Soon after his return young Derby 
sailed for Mocha, an Arabian port in the Red Sea, to pick up a 
cargo of coffee. The natives had never heard of America, and 
the strange vessel was a nine days' wonder. 

In 1788 Mr. Derby decided to send a ship for a direct voyage 
to Batavia, another novel commercial undertaking. While the 
purely business side of these enterprises is not thrilling, it holds 
a certain interest as showing the responsibilities of the ship- 
masters upon whose judgment depended the results of the 
voyage. For this first American voyage to Batavia, the instruc- 
tions of the captain and supercargo from the owner, Mr. Derby, 
read as follows: 

"Salem, February, 1789. 
" Captain James Magee, Jr., 

" Mr. Thomas Perkins (supercargo) 
"Gents: The ship Astrea of which James Magee is master 
and Mr. Thomas Perkins is supercargo, being ready for sea, I 
do advise and order you to come to sail, and make the best of 
your way for Batavia, and on your arrival there you will dispose 
of such part of your cargo as you think may be the most for my 
interest. 

" I think you had best sell a few casks of the most ordinary 

182 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

ginseng, if you can get one dollar a pound for it. If the price 
of sugar be low, you will then take into the ship as much of 
the best white kind as will floor her, and fifty thousand weight 
of coffee, if it is as low as we have heard — part of which you 
will be able to stow between the beams and the quintlings, and 
fifteen thousand of saltpeter, if very low; some nutmegs, and 
fifty thousand weight of pepper. This you will stow in the 
fore peak, for fear of its injuring the teas. The sugar will 
save the expense of any stone ballast and it will make a floor for 
the teas, etc., at Canton. 

"At Batavia you must if possible, get as much freight for 
Canton as will pay half or more of your charges; that is, if it 
will not detain you too long, as by this addition of freight it 
will exceedingly help the voyage. You must endeavor to be 
the first ship with ginseng, for be assured you will do better alone 
than you will if there are three or four ships at Canton at the 
same time with you. . . . 

" Captain Magee and Mr. Perkins are to have five per cent, 
commission for the sales of the present cargo and two and one- 
half per cent, on the cargo home, and also five per cent, on the 
profit made on goods that may be purchased at Batavia and 
sold at Canton, or in any other similar case that may arise on 
the voyage. They are to have one-half the passage money — 
the other half belongs to the ship. The privileges of Captain 
Magee is five per cent, of what the ship carries on cargo, exclusive 
of adventures. It is ordered that the ship's books shall be 
open to the inspection of the mates and doctor of the ship, so 
that they may know the whole business, as in case of death or 
sickness it may be of good service in the voyage. The Phila- 
delphia beer is put up so strong that it will not be approved of 
until it is made weaker; you had best try some of it first. 

" You will be careful not to break any acts of trade while you 
are out on the voyage, to lay the ship and cargo liable to seizure, 

183 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

for my insurance will not make it good. Be very careful of the 
expense attending the voyage, and remember that a one dollar 
laid out while absent is two dollars out of the voyage. Pay par- 
ticular attention to the quality of your goods, as your voyage very 
much depends on your attention to this. You are not to pay any 
moneys to the crew while absent from home unless in a case of 
real necessity, and then they must allow an advance for the 
money. Annexed to these orders you have a list of such a cargo 
for my own account as I at present think may do best for me, 
but you will add or diminish any article as the price may be. 
" . . . Captain Magee and Mr. Perkins — Although I have 
been a little particular in these orders, I do not mean them as 
positive; and you have leave to break them in any part where 
you by calculation think it for my interest, excepting your 
breaking Acts of Trade which I absolutely forbid. Not having 
to add anything, I commit you to the Almighty's protection, 
and remain your friend and employer, 

"Elias Hasket Derby." 

The captain was expected to " break his orders in any part," 
if he could drive a better bargain than his employer had been 
able to foresee at a distance of ten thousand miles from the 
market. Merchants as well as navigators, the old-time ship- 
master found compensation for these arduous responsibilities 
in the "privileges" which allowed him a liberal amount of 
cargo space on their own account, as well as a commission on 
the sales of the freight out and back. His own share of the 
profits of two or three voyages to the Far East might enable him 
to buy and ship and freight a vessel for himself. Thereafter, if 
he were shrewd and venturesome enough, he rose rapidly to 
independence and after a dozen years of the quarterdeck was 
ready to step ashore as a merchant with his own counting house 
and his fleet of stout ships. 

184 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

In 1793, Captain Jonathan Carnes of Salem was looking for 
trade along the Sumatra coast. Touching at the port of Ben- 
coolen, he happened to learn that wild pepper might be found 
along the northwest coast of Sumatra. The Dutch East India 
Company was not as alert as this solitary Yankee shipmaster, 
roaming along strange and hostile shores. 

Captain Carnes kept his knowledge to himself, completed his 
voyage to Salem, and there whispered to a merchant, Jonathan 
Peele, that as soon as possible a secret pepper expedition should 
be fitted out. Mr. Peele ordered a fast schooner built. She 
was called the Rajah, and carried four guns and ten men. 
There was much gossiping speculation about her destination, 
but Captain Cames had nothing at all to say. In November, 
1795, he cleared for Sumatra and not a soul in Salem except 
his owner and himself knew whither he was bound. The cargo 
consisted of brandy, gin, iron, tobacco and dried fish to be 
bartered for wild pepper. 

For eighteen months no word returned from the Rajah, and 
her mysterious quest. Captain Carnes might have been 
wrecked on coasts whereof he had no charts, or he might have 
been slain by hostile natives. But Jonathan Peele, having 
risked his stake, as Salem merchants were wont to do, busied 
himself with other afi^airs and pinned his faith to the proven 
sagacity and pluck of Jonathan Cames. At last, a string of 
signal flags fluttered from the harbor mouth. Jonathan Peele 
reached for his spyglass, and saw a schooner's topsails lifting 
from seaward. The Rajah had come home, and when she let 
go her anchor in Salem harbor. Captain Jonathan Cames 
brought word ashore that he had secured a cargo of wild pepper 
in bulk which would return a profit of at least seven hundred 
per cent, of the total cost of vessel and voyage. In other words, 
this one " adventure " of the Rajah realized what amounted to a 
comfortable fortune in that generation. 

185 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

There was great excitement among the other Salem merchants. 
They forsook their desks to discuss this pepper bonanza, but 
Captain Jonathan Games had nothing to say and Mr. Jonathan 
Peele was as dumb as a Salem harbor clam. The Rajah was 
at once refitted for a second Sumatra voyage, and in their 
eagerness to fathom her dazzling secret, several rival merchants 
hastily made vessels ready for sea with orders to go to that 
coast as fast as canvas could carry them and endeavor to find 
out where Captain Cames found his wild pepper. They 
hurried to Bencoolen, but were unsuccessful and had to proceed 
to India to fill their holds with whatever cargoes came to hand. 
Meanwhile the Rajah slipped away for a second pepper voyage, 
and returned with a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of the 
precious condiment. 

There was no hiding this mystery from Salem merchants for 
long, however, and by the time the Rajah had made three 
pepper voyages, the rivals were at her heels, bartering with 
native chieftains and stowing their holds with the wild pepper 
which long continued to be one of the most profitable articles 
of the Salem commerce with the Orient. It was a fine romance 
of trade, this story of Captain Cames and the Rajah, and char- 
acteristic of the men and methods of the time. For half a 
century a large part of the pepper used in all countries was 
reshipped from the port of Salem, a trade which flourished 
until 1850. During the period between the first voyage of 
Captain Cames and 1845, the Salem custom house records 
bore the entries of almost two hundred vessels from the port of 
Sumatra. 

While Sumatra and China and India were being sought by 
Salem ships, Elias Hasket Derby in 1796 sent his good ship 
Astrea on a pioneer voyage to Manila. She was the first 
American vessel to find that port, and was loaded with a rich 
cargo of sugar, pepper and indigo, on which twenty-four 

186 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

thousand dollars in duties were paid at the Salem Custom 
House. 

To carry on such a business as that controlled by Elias 
Hasket Derby, enlisted the activities of many men and industries. 
While his larger ships were making their distant voyages, his 
brigs and schooners were gathering the future cargoes for the 
Orient; voyaging to Gothenburg and St. Petersburg for iron, 
duck and hemp; to France, Spain and Madeira for wine and 
lead; to the West Indies for rum, and to New York, Phila- 
delphia and Richmond for flour, provisions, iron, and tobacco. 
These shipments were assembled in the warehouses of Derby 
wharf, and paid for in the teas, coffee, pepper, muslin, silks 
and ivory which the ships from the far East were bringing 
home. In fourteen years Mr. Derby's ships to the far Eastern 
ports and Europe made one hundred and twenty-five voyages, 
and of the thirty-five vessels engaged in this traffic only one 
was lost at sea. 

In one of the most entertaining and instructive chapters of 
"Walden," Thoreau takes the trouble to explain the business 
of a successful shipping merchant of Salem. The description 
of his activities may be fairly applied to Elias Hasket Derby 
and his times. 

" To oversee all the details yourself in person ; to be at once 
pilot and captain, and owner and underwriter; to buy and sell 
and keep the accounts; to read every letter received, and write 
or read every letter sent ; to superintend the discharge of imports 
night and day; to be upon many ports of the coast almost at 
the same time — often the richest freights will be discharged 
upon a Jersey shore; to be your own telegraph, unweariedly 
sweeping the horizon, speaking all vessels bound coastwise; 
to keep up a steady dispatch of commodities for the supply of 
such a distant and exorbitant market ; to keep yourself informed 
of the state of the markets, prospects of war and peace every- 

187 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

where, and anticipate the tendencies of trade and civiUzation. 
Taking advantage of the resuKs of all exploring expeditions 
using new passages and all improvements in navigation; charts 
to be studied, the position of reefs and new lights and buoys to 
be corrected, for by the error of some calculator the vessel often 
splits upon a rock that should have reached a friendly pier; 
universal science to be kept pace with, studying the lives of all 
great discoverers and navigators, great adventurers and mer- 
chants, from Hanno and the Phoenicians down to our day; 
in fine, account of stock must be taken from time to time, to 
know how you stand. It is such a labor to task the faculties 
of a man — such problems of profit and loss, of interest, of tare 
and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it, as demand a universal 
knowledge." 

There is to-day nothing at all comparable with the community 
of interests which bound all Salem in a kinship with the sea 
and its affairs. Every ship for China or India carried a list 
of "adventures," small speculations entrusted to the captain 
or supercargo, contributed by boys and girls, sweethearts, 
brothers, mothers and wives. In the log of Mr. Derby's ship, 
the Astrea, for a voyage to Batavia and Canton are the following 
"memoranda" of "adventures," which were to be sold by the 
captain and the profits brought home to the investors : 

" Captain Nathaniel West. 15 boxes spermacetti candles. 1 
pipe Tenefriffe wine." 

"James Jeffry. 1 cask ginseng." 

"George Dodge. 10 Dollars. 1 pipe Madeira wine." 

In searching among the old logs for these "adventures," the 
author found "on board Ship Messenger of Salem, 1816": 

"Memorandum of Miss Harriet Elkin's Adventure. 
" Please to purchase if at Calcutta two net bead with draperies ; 
if at Batavia or any spice market, nutmegs, and mace, or if at 

188 



Elias Hasket Derby mid his >Times 

Canton, Two Canton Crape shawls of the enclosed colors at 
$5 per shawl. Enclosed is $10. Signed. 

"Henrietta Elkins." 

"Memorandum of Mr. John R. Tucker's Adventure. 
"Mr. C. Stanley, Sir: 

"I hand you a bag containing 100 Spanish dollars for my 
adventure on board the ship Messenger which please invest in 
coffee and sugar, if you have room after the cargo is on board. 
If not, invest the amount in nutmegs, or spice as you think best. 
Please do for me as you do for your own, and oblige your obt. 

" John R. Tucker. 
"To Edward Stanley, master." 

Captain Stanley kept an itemized record of his transactions 
with Mr. J. Tucker's one hundred Spanish dollars, and it may 
be interesting to note how such an "adventure" was handled 
to reap profits for the waiting speculator in faraway Salem. 
The captain first bought in Batavia ten bags of coffee for $83.30, 
which with boat hire, duty and sacking made the total outlay 
$90.19. This coffee he sold in Antweip on his way home for 
$183.75. Arriving at Salem he paid over to Mr. Tucker the 
sum of $193.57, or almost one hundred per cent, profit on the 
amount of the "adventure." This is enough to show why this 
kind of speculative investment was so popular in the Salem of a 
century ago. 

The same ship carried also " Mrs. Mary Townsend's adven- 
ture," to wit: 

" Please to purchase lay out five dollars which I send by you, 
Vizt: 

" One Tureen 14 by 10 Inches, China. One Nett bead and 
you will oblige." 

Almost every household of Salem had its own menfolk or 
near kinfolk on the sea, not in the offshore fisheries, nor in the 

189 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

coastwise trade where the perils of their calhng might be some- 
what atoned for by the frequent visits of these loved ones. The 
best and bravest men of Salem were in the deep-water, square- 
rigged vessels which vanished toward the Orient and to the 
South Seas to be gone, not months but years on a voyage. 

After open hostilities had fairly begun between France and 
the United States, in 1798, our ports began to send out priva- 
teersmen and the merchants' fleets sought refuge. Elias 
Hasket Derby, with a revival of his bold Revolutionary spirit, 
decided to risk a cargo of sugar and coffee to meet the urgent 
demands of the Mediterranean ports. For this particular 
mission he built the ship Mount VernoJi, a notable combination 
of commercial and naval fitness. She was the last venture of 
this great merchant, and with characteristic enterprise he took 
the chances of evading the French and the Algerinc pirates with 
a cargo whose profits would be enormous if the Mount Vernon 
could make the passage in safety. This fine ship was only one 
hundred feet long, but she carried fifty men and twenty guns. 
She was built for speed as well as fighting ability, and she made 
Cape Vincent on her outward passage in sixteen days from 
Salem. Her voyage was a brilliant success, although her 
owner died before she came home. The Mount Vernon on 
this one voyage paid to the Derby estate a profit of one hundred 
thousand dollars on a total investment for ship and cargoes of 
$43,000. The letter book of the Mount Vernon for this notable 
voyage in the history of the American merchant marine tells 
how she fought her way across the Atlantic. Captain Elias 
Hasket Derby, junior, was in charge of the vessel, and he wrote 
his father as follows : 

" GiBRALTER, 1st, AugUSt, 1799. 

"E. H. Derby, Esq., Salem: 

"Honored Sir: I think you must be surprised to find me here 
so early. I arrived at this port in seventeen and one-half days 

190 



Elias Hashet Derby and his Times 



from the time my brother left the ship (off Salem). In eight 
days and seven hours were up with Carvo, and made Cape St. 
Vincent in sixteen days. The first of our passage was quite 
agreeable; the latter light winds, calm, and Frenchmen con- 
stantly in sight for the last four days. The first Frenchman we 
saw was off Tercira, a lugger to the southward. Being uncer- 
tain of his force, we stood by him to leeward on our course and 
soon left him. 

" July 28th in the afternoon we found ourselves approaching 
a fleet of upwards of fifty sail, steering nearly N. E. We run 
directly for their centre; at 4 o'clock found ourselves in their 
half-moon ; concluding it impossible that it could be any other 
than the English fleet, continued our course for their centre, 
to avoid any apprehension of a want of confidence in them. 
They soon dispatched an 18-gun ship from their centre, and 
two frigates, one from their van and another from the rear to 
beat towards us, being to windward. 

"On approaching the centre ship under easy sail, I fortu- 
nately bethought myself that it would be but common prudence 
to steer so far to windward of him as to be a gunshot's distance 
from him; to observe his force, and manoevering. When we 
were abreast of him he fired a gun to leeward and hoisted 
English colors. We immediately bore away and meant to pass 
under his quarter, between him and the fleet, showing our 
American colors. This movement disconcerted him and it 
appeared to me he conceived we were either an American sloop 
of war or an English one in distress, attempting to cut him off 
from the fleet. While we were in the act of wearing on his beam, 
he hoisted French colors and gave us his broadside. 

" We immediately brought our ship to the wind and stood 
on about a mile, wore towards the centre of the fleet, hove about 
and crossed on him on the other tack about half grape shot 
distance and received his broadside. Several of his shot fell on 

191 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

board of us, and cut our sails — two round shot striking us, 
without much damage. All hands were active in clearing ship 
for action, for our surprise had been complete. 

" In about ten minutes we commenced firing our stern chasers 
and in a quarter of an hour gave him our broadside in such a 
style as apparently sickened him, for he immediately luffed in 
the wind, gave us his broadside, went in stays in great confusion, 
wore ship afterwards in a large circle, and renewed the chase 
at a mile and a half distance — a manoever calculated to keep 
up appearances with the fleet and to escape our shot. We 
received seven or eight broadsides from him, and I was mortified 
at not having it in my power to return him an equal number 
without exposing myself to the rest of the fleet, for I am per- 
suaded I should have had the pleasure of sending him home 
had he been separate from them. 

"At midnight we had distanced them, the chasing rocket 
signals being almost out of sight, and soon left them. We 
then kept ourselves in constant preparation till my arrival here; 
and indeed it had been very requisite, for we have been in con- 
stant brushes ever since. The day after we left the (French) 
fleet we were chased till night by two frigates whom we lost 
sight of when it was dark. The next morning off Cape St. 
Vincent in the latitude of Cadiz, were chased by a French lateen- 
rigged vessel apparently of 10 or 12 guns, one of them an 
18-pounder. We brought to, for his metal was too heavy for 
ours, and his position was to windward, where he lay just in a 
situation to cast his shot over us, and it was not in my power 
to put him off. We of course bore away, and saluted him with 
our long nines. He continued in chase till dark and when we 
w'cre nearly by Cadiz, at sunset, he made a signal to his consort, 
a large lugger whom we had just discovered ahead. Having a 
strong breeze I was determined to pass my stern over him if 
he did not make way for me. He thought prudent so to do. 

192 







HI 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

"At midnight we made the lights in Cadiz city but found no 
English fleet. After laying to till daybreak, concluded that the 
French must have gained the ascendency in Cadiz and thought 
prudent to proceed to this place where we arrived at 12 o'clock, 
popping at Frenchmen all the forenooti. At 10 A.M. off Algeciras 
Point were seriously attacked by a large latineer who had on 
board more than 100 men. He came so near our broadside as 
to allow our six-pound grape to do execution handsomely. We 
then bore away and gave him our stern guns in a cool and 
deliberate manner, doing apparently great execution. Our 
bars having cut his sails considerably he was thrown into con- 
fusion, struck both his ensign and his pennant. I was then 
puzzled to know what to do with so many men ; our ship was 
running large with all her steering sails out, so that we could 
not immediately bring her to the wind and we were directly off 
Algeciras Point from whence I had reason to fear she might 
receive assistance, and my port (Gibralter) in full view. 

"These were circumstances that induced me to give up the 
gratification of bringing him in. It was, however, a satisfaction 
to flog the rascal in full view of the English fleet who were to 
leeward. The risk of sending here is great, indeed, for any 
ship short of our force in men and guns — but particularly 
heavy guns. 

" It is absolutely necessary that two Government ships should 
occasionally range the straits and latitude of Cadiz, from the 
longitude of Cape St. Vincent. I have, now while writing to 
you, two of our countrymen in full view who are prizes to these 
villains. Lord St. Vincent, in a 50-gun ship bound for England, 
is just at this moment in the act of retaking one of them. The 
other goes into Algeciras without molestation. 

" You need have but little apprehension for my safety, as my 
crew are remarkably well trained and are perfectly well disposed 
to defend themselves; and I think after having cleared our- 

103 



The Ships arid Sailors of Old Salem 

selves from the French in such a handsome manner, you may 
well conchide that we can effect almost anything. If I should 
go to Constantinople, it will be with a passport from Admiral 
Nelson for whom I may carry a letter to Naples. 
"Your affectionate son, 

"Elias Hasket Derby." 

That the experience of Captain Elias Hasket Derby, Jr., in 
the Mount Vernon was not an unusual one is indicated by the 
following letter written by Captain Richard Wheatland and 
published in a Salem newspaper of 1799 under these stirring 
headlines : 

" A sea Fight gallantly and vigorously maintained by the Ship 
Perseverance, Captain Richard Wheatland of this port against 
one of the vessels of the Terrible Republic. The French Rascals, 
contrary to the Laws of War and Honor, fought under false 
colours, whilst the Eagle, true to his charge, spreads his wings on 
the American flag.'' 

"Ship Perseverance, 
''Old Straits of Bahama, Jan. 1, 1799. 

"Dec. 31st. Key Romain in sight, bearing south, distance 
four or five leagues. A schooner has been in chase of us since 
eight o'clock, and has every appearance of being a privateer. 
At one o'clock P.M. finding the schooner come up with us very 
fast, took in steering sails, fore and aft and royals; at half -past 
one about ship and stood for her; she immediately tacked and 
made sail from us. We fired a gun to leeward and hoisted the 
American ensign to our mizzen peak; she hoisted a Spanish 
jack at maintop masthead and continued to run from us. Find- 
ing she outsailed us greatly, and wishing to get through the 
Narrows in the Old Straits, at two o'clock P.M. we again about 
ship and kept on our course. The schooner immediately wore, 
fired a gun to leeward, and kept after us under a great press of 

194 




Elias Hasket Derl)y iiiaiisi(.ii (1799-181(i) 




Prince House. Home of Richarfl Derby. Built about IToO 



Elias Hasket Derby and his Times 

sail. At half-past two she again fired a gun to leeward, but 
perceiving ourselves in the Narrows above mentioned, we kept 
on to get through them if possible before she came up with us, 
which we effected. 

"At three o'clock finding ourselves fairly clear of Sugar Key 
and Key Laboas, we took in steering sails, wore ship, hauled 
up our courses, piped all hands to quarters and prepared for 
action. The schooner immediately took in sail, hoisted an 
English Union flag, and passed under our lee at a considerable 
distance. We wore ship, she did the same and we passed each 
other within half a musket. A fellow hailed us in broken Eng- 
lish and ordered the boat hoisted out and the captain to come 
on board with his papers, which he refused. He again ordered 
our boat out and enforced his orders with a menace that in case 
of refusal he would sink us, using at the same time the vilest 
and most infamous language it is possible to conceive of. 

"By this time he had fallen considerably astern of us; he 
wore and came up on our starboard quarter, giving us a broad- 
side as he passed our stern, but fired so excessively wild that he 
did us very little injury, while our stern-chasers gave him a 
noble dose of round shot and lagrange. We hauled the ship 
to wind and as he passed poured a whole broadside into him 
with great success. Sailing faster than we he ranged consider- 
ably ahead, tacked and again passed, giving us a broadside and 
a furious discharge of musketry which they kept up incessantly 
until the latter part of the engagement. 

" His musket balls reached us in every direction, but his large 
shot either fell short or went considerably over us while our 
guns loaded with round shot and square bars of iron, six inches 
long, were plied so briskly and directed with such good judg- 
ment that before he got out of range we had cut his mainsail 
and foretopsail all to rags and cleared his decks so effectively 
that when he bore away from us there were scarcely ten men 

195 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to be seen. He then struck his English flag and hoisted the 
flag of the Terrible Republic and made off with all the sail he 
could carry, much disappointed, no doubt, at not being able 
to give us a fraternal embrace. 

"The wind being light and knowing he would outsail us, 
added to a solicitude to complete our voyage, prevented our 
pursuing him; indeed we had sufficient to gratify our revenge 
for his temerity, for there was scarcely a single fire from our 
guns but what spread entirely over his hull. The action which 
lasted an hour and twenty minutes, we conceive ended well, 
for exclusive of preserving the property entrusted to our care, 
we feel confidence that we have rid the world of some infamous 
pests of society. We were within musket shot the whole time 
of the engagement, and were so fortunate as to receive but very 
trifling injury. Not a person on board met the slightest harm. 
Our sails were a little torn and one of the quarterdeck guns 
dismounted. 

"The privateer was a schooner of 80 or 90 tons, copper 
bottom, and fought five or six guns on a side. We are now 
within forty-eight hours sail of Havana, where we expect to 
arrive in safety; indeed we have no fear of any privateer's 
preventing us unless greatly superior in force. The four 
quarterdeck guns will require new carriages, and one of them 
was entirely dismounted. 

"We remain with esteem, 
" Gentlemen, 

"Your Humble Servant, 

"Richard Wheatland." 



196 



CHAPTER XI 

PIONEERS IN DISTANT SEAS 

(1775-1817) 

THE name of Joseph Peabody takes rank with that of 
EHas Hasket Derby as an American who did much to 
upbuild the commerce, weaUh and prestige of his 
nation in its younger days. It may sound hke an old-fashioned 
doctrine in this present age of concentration of wealth at the 
expense of a sturdy and independent citizenship, to assert that 
such men as Joseph Peabody deserve much more honor for the 
kind of manhood they helped to foster than for the riches they 
amassed for themselves. They did not seek to crush competi- 
tion, to drive out of business the men around them who were 
ambitious to win a competence on their own merits and to call 
themselves free citizens of a free country. Those were the 
days of equal opportunities, which shining fact finds illustra- 
tion in the career of Joseph Peabody, for example, who, during 
his career as a ship owner, advanced to the rank of master 
thirty-five of his fellow townsmen who had entered his employ 
as cabin boys or seamen. Every one of these shipmasters, " if 
he had the stuff in him," became an owner of shipping, a mer- 
chant with his own business on shore, an employer who was 
eager, in his turn, to advance his own masters and mates to 
positions of independence in which they might work out their 
own careers. 

During the early years of the nineteenth century, Joseph 
Peabody built and owned eighty-three ships which he freighted 

197 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

on his own account and sent to every corner of the world. The 
stout square-riggers which flew the Peabody house flag made 
thirty-eight voyages to Calcutta, seventeen to Canton, thirty- 
two to Sumatra, forty-seven to St. Petersburg, and thirty to 
other ports of Europe. To man this noble fleet no fewer than 
seven thousand seamen signed shipping articles in the counting 
room of Joseph Peabody. The extent of his commerce is 
indicated by the amount of duties paid by some of these ships. 
In 1825 and 1826, the Leander, a small brig of two hundred and 
twenty-three tons, made two voyages to Canton which paid 
into the Salem Custom House duties of $86,847, and $92,392 
respectively. In 1829, 1830, and 1831, the Sumatra, a ship of 
less than three hundred tons, came home from China with 
cargoes, the duties on which amounted to $128,363; $138,480, 
and $140,761. The five voyages named, and all of them were 
made in ships no larger than a small two-masted coasting 
schooner of to-day, paid in duties a total of almost six hundred 
thousand dollars. 

Typical of the ships which won wealth and prestige for 
Joseph Peabody, was the redoubtable George which was the 
most successful vessel of her period. For twenty-two years she 
was in the East India trade, making twenty-one round voyages 
with such astonishing regularity as to challenge comparison 
with the schedules of the cargo tramps of to-day. She was only 
one hundred and ten feet in length, with a beam of twenty- 
seven feet, but during her staunch career the George paid into 
the United States Treasury as duties on her imports more than 
six hundred thousand dollars. 

She was built in 1814 by a number of Salem ship carpenters 
who had been deprived of work by the stagnation of the War 
of 1812. They intended to launch her as a co-operative priva- 
teer, to earn her way by force of arms when peaceable merchant- 
men were driven from the high seas. But the war ended too 

198 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



soon to permit these enterprising shipwrights to seek British 
plunder and they sold the George to Joseph Peabody. She 
sailed for India in 1815, with hardly a man in her company, 
from quarterdeck to forecastle, more than twenty-one years of 
age. Every man aboard of her could read and write, and most 
of the seamen had studied navigation. 

Not always did these enterprising and adventurous Salem 
lads return to their waiting mothers. In the log of the George 
for a voyage to Calcutta in 1824, the mate has draw^n with 
pencil a tombstone and a weeping willow as a tribute to one 
Greenleaf Perley, a young seaman who died in that far-off 
port. The mate was a poet of sorts and beneath the headstone 
he wrote these lines : 

"The youth ambitious sought a sickly clime. 
His hopes of profit banished all his fears; 
His was the generous wish of love divine. 
To sooth a mother's cares and dry her tears." 

Joseph Peabody began his sea life when a lad in his teens in 
the hardy school of the Revolutionary privateersmen. He 
made his first cruise in Elias Hasket Derby's privateer. Bunker 
Hill, and his second in the Pilgrim owned by the Cabots of 
Beverly. A little later he became second officer of a letter of 
marque ship, the Ranger, owned by Boston and Salem shipping 
merchants. It was while aboard the Ranger that young Pea- 
body won his title as a fighting seaman. Leaving Salem in the 
winter of 1781-82, the Ranger carried salt to Richmond, and 
loaded with flour at Alexandria for Havana. Part of this cargo 
of flour was from the plantation of George Washington, and the 
immortal story of the hatchet and the cherry tree must have 
been known in Cuba even then, for the Spanish merchants 
expressed a preference for this brand of flour and showed their 
confidence by receiving it at the marked vreight without putting 
it on the scales. 

199 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

The Ranger returned to Alexandria for another cargo of 
flour, and on July 5tli, 1782, dropped down the Potomac, ready 
for sea. Head winds compelled her to anchor near the mouth 
of the river. At three o'clock of the following night, the seaman 
on watch ran aft, caught up a speaking trumpet, and shouted 
down to the sleeping officers in the cabin that two boats were 
making for the ship. Captain Simmons and Lieutenant Pea- 
body rushed up the companionway, and as they reached the 
deck, received a volley of musketry from the darkness. Captain 
Simmons fell, badly wounded, and Peabody ran forward in his 
night clothes, calling to the crew to get their boarding pikes. 
He caught up a pike and with a brave and ready seaman named 
Kent, sprang to the bows and engaged in a hand to hand fight 
with the boarding party which was already pouring over the 
rail from the boat alongside. 

The Rangers crew rallied and held the deck against this 
invasion until a second boat made fast in another quarter and 
swept the deck w^ith musket fire. The first officer was in the 
magazine below, breaking out ammunition, the captain was 
wounded, and the command of this awkward situation fell 
upon Lieutenant, or Second Officer Peabody, who was a con- 
spicuous mark in his white nightshirt. He ordered cold shot 
heaved into the boats to sink them if possible, and one of them 
was smashed and sunk in short order. 

Peabody then mustered his crew against the boarding party 
from the other boat, and drove them overboard. After the 
Ranger's decks had been cleared in fierce and bloody fashion 
and the fight was won, it was found that one of her crew was 
dead, three wounded, the captain badly hurt, and although 
Peabody had not known it in the heat of action, he had stopped 
two musket balls and bore the marks of a third. One of the 
very able seamen of the Ranger had seen a boarder about to 
fire point-blank at Peabody and with a sweep of his cutlass he 

200 




Josepli I'eabixly 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



cut off the hand that held the pistol. For this service Peabody 
made the seaman a life-long pensioner, showing that his heart 
was in the right place in more ways than one. 

The Ranger carried twenty men and seven guns at this time, 
and the enemy attempted to carry the ship with sixty men in 
two barges, their loss being more than forty in killed and 
wounded. They were later ascertained to be a band of Tories 
who had infested the bay of the mouth of the Potomac for some 
time, and had captured a brig of ten guns and thirty men a few 
days before this. The Ranger sailed up to Alexandria to refit 
and land her wounded, and the merchants of the town presented 
the ship with a silver mounted boarding-pike in token of their 
admiring gratitude for her stout defense. This trophy became 
the property of Joseph Peabody and was highly prized as an 
adornment of his Salem mansion in later years. 

When the Ranger went to sea again, Thomas Perkins of 
Salem, her first oflBcer, was given the command and Peabody 
sailed with him as chief mate. Thus began a friendship which 
later became a business partnership in which Perkins amassed 
a large fortune of his own. Peabody sailed as a shipmaster 
for a Salem firm for several years after peace came, and at 
length bought a schooner, the Three Friends, in which he traded 
to the West Indies and Europe. The story of his career there- 
after was one of successful speculation in ships and cargoes and 
of a growing fleet of deep-water vessels until his death in 1844, 
a venerable man of large public spirit, and shining integrity, a 
pillar of his state and town, whose fortune had been won in the 
golden age of American enterprise in remote seas. 

William Gray completed the triumvirate of Salem ship owners 
of surpassing sagacity and success, his name being rightfully 
linked with those of Elias Hasket Derby and Joseph Peabody. 
He served his apprenticeship in the counting room of Richard 
Derby and was one of the earliest American shipping merchants 

201 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to seek the trade of Canton and the ports of the East Indies. 
In 1807 he owned fifteen ships, seven barks, thirteen brigs, and 
one schooner, or one-fourth of the tonnage of the port. He 
became the heutenant governor of the Commonwealth and left 
a princely fortune as the product of his far-sighted industry. 

For the information of those unfamiliar with the records of 
that epoch on the seas, the rapidity with which these lords of 
maritime trade acquired their fleets and the capital needed to 
freight and man them, it may be worth while to give a concrete 
example of the profits to be won in those ventures of large risks 
and larger stakes. A letter written from the great shipping 
house of the Messrs. Perkins in Boston to their agents in Canton 
in 1814, goes to show that the operations of the captains of 
industry of the days of Derby and Gray and Peabody would 
have been respected by the capitalists of this twentieth century. 
Here is the kind of Arabian Night's Entertainment in the way 
of dazzling rewards which these old-time merchants planned to 
reap: 
"To Messers. Perkins and Co. Canton, Jan. 1, 1814. 

"You say a cargo laid at Canton would bring three for one 
in South America, and your copper would give two prices back. 
Thus, $30,000 laid out in China would give you $90,000 in 
South America, one half of which laid out in copper would give 
one hundred per cent, or $90,000, making $135,000 for $30,000. 

"60,000 pounds of indigo even at 80 cents, $48,000; 120 tons 
of sugar at $60, or $7,200, and cotton or some other light freight, 
say skin tea, $20,000, in all $75,000, would be worth $400,000 
here, and not employ the profits of the voyage to South America. 
Manila sugar is worth $400 or $500 per ton here, clear of duty. 
The ship should be flying light, her bottom in good order, the 
greatest vigilance used on the voyage and make any port north 
of New York. 

" (signed) Thomas H. Perkins and James Perkins. " 
202 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



It was the heyday of opportunity for youth. Robert Bennett 
Forbes, by way of example, was the nephew of this Thomas 
Perkins of Boston, and Hkewise became a wealthy merchant and 
ship owner. Young Forbes went to sea before the mast as a 
boy of thirteen. He has told how his mother equipped him 
with a supply of thread, needles, buttons, etc., in his ditty-bag, 
also some well-darned socks, a Testament, a bottle of lavender 
water, one of essence of peppermint, a small box of broken 
sugar and a barrel of apples. " She wanted to give me a pillow 
and some sheets and pillow cases," he writes, " but I scorned the 
idea, having been told that sailors never used them, but usually 
slept with a stick of wood with the bark on for a pillow. My 
good mother who had been at sea herself and fully realized the 
dangers and temptations to which I should be exposed, felt that 
there could be but one more severe trial for her, and that was 
to put me in my grave. My uncle contributed a letter full of 
excellent advice, recommending me to fit myself to be a good 
captain and promising to keep me in mind. William Sturgiss, 
who had much experience of the sea, took an interest in me and 
gave me this advice : 

" ' Always go straight forward, and if you meet the Devil cut him 
in two and go between the pieces; if any one imposes on you, tell 
him to whistle against a northwester and to bottle up moonshine. ' " 

Forbes was 15 years old when Mr. Gushing, of the firm's ship- 
ping house in Canton, wrote to Thomas H. Perkins in Boston: 

"I have omitted in my letters per Nautilus, mentioning 
our young friend Bennet Forbes, recommending his being pro- 
moted to be an officer on the return of the Canton packet. He 
is without exception the finest lad I have ever known, and has 
already the stability of a man of thirty. During the stay of the 
ship I have had him in the office and have found him as useful 
as if he had been regularly brought up in the business; he has 
profited so much by the little intercourse he has had with the 

203 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Chinese that he is now more competent to transact business 
than one half of the supercargoes sent out." 

The Crowninshield family of Salem earned very unusual 
distinction on salt water and a national fame as men of affairs 
and statecraft. There were six brothers of them, born of a sea- 
faring father and grandfather, and this stalwart half dozen 
Crowninshields one and all, went to sea as boys. One died of 
fever at Guadaloupe at the age of fourteen while captain's clerk 
of a Salem ship. The five surviving brothers commanded ships 
before they were old enough to vote, and at one time the five 
were absent from Salem, each in his own vessel, and three of 
them in the East India trade. 

"When little boys they were all sent to a common school 
and about their eleventh year began their first particular study 
which should develop them as sailors and ship captains. These 
boys studied their navigation as little chaps of twelve years old 
and were required to thoroughly master the subject before being 
sent to sea. It was common in those days to pursue their 
studies by much writing out of problems, and boys kept their 
books until full. Several such are among our family records and 
are interesting in the extreme, beautifully written, without blots 
or dog's cars, and all the problems of navigation as practised 
then, are drawn out in a neat and in many cases a remarkably 
handsome manner. The designing of vessels was also studied 
and the general principles of construction mastered. 

"As soon as the theory of navigation was mastered, the 
youngsters were sent to sea, sometimes as common sailors, but 
commonly as ship's clerks, in which position they were enabled 
to learn everything about the management of a ship without 
actually being a common sailor."* 

* From "An Account of the Yaclit Cleopatra! s Barged by Benjamin W. 
Crowninshield, Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, from which much 
of the information in this chapter is derived. 

204 




Hon. Jacob Crowiiinsliield 



Pioneers ^n Distant Seas 



This method of nautical education was of course open only 
to those of considerable influence who wished to fit their sons 
to become merchants as well as shipmasters. It seems to have 
been remarkably efficient in training the j&ve Crownlnshields. 
One of these shipmasters, Benjamin W., became Secretary of 
the Navy under Jefferson, and United States Congressman, 
while another brother, Jacob, was a Congressman from 1803 
to 1805 and had the honor of declining a seat in Jefferson's 
Cabinet. Jacob Crowninshield, however, earned a more popu- 
lar kind of fame by bringing home from India in 1796, the first 
live elephant ever seen in America. It is probable that words 
would be wholly inadequate to describe the sensation created 
by this distinguished animal when led through the streets of 
Salem, with a thousand children clamoring their awe and jubila- 
tion.* It is recorded that this unique and historical elephant 
was sold for ten thousand dollars. 

The eldest of these brothers, Captain George Crowninshield, 
who served his years at sea, from forecastle to cabin, and then 
retired ashore to become a shipping merchant, was the patriotic 
son of Salem who chartered the brig Henri/, manned her with a 
crew of shipmasters and sailed to Halifax to bring home the 
bodies of Lawrence and Ludlow after the defeat of the Chesa- 
peake by the Shamion. Those who knew him have handed 
down a vivid description of his unusual personality. He was 

* (1797) "Aug. 30.— Went to the Market House to see tlie Elephant. The 
crowd of spectators forbade me any but a j^eneral and sujierficial view of him. 
He was six feet four inches high. Of large Volume, his skin black as tho' lately 
oiled. A short hair was on every part but not sufficient for a covering. His 
tail hung one third of his height, but without any long hair at the end of it. His 
legs were still at command at the Joints but he could not be persuaded to lie 
down. The Keeper repeatedly moimted him but he persisted in shaking him 
off. Bread and Hay were given him and he took bread out of the pockets of 
the spectators. He also drank porter and drew the cork, conveying the liquor 
from his trunk into his throat. His Tusks were just to be seen beyond the flesh 
and it was said had been broken. We say his because this is the common 
language. It is a female, and teats appeared just behind the fore legs." (From 
the Diary of Dr. William Bentley.) 

205 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

robust and daring beyond the ordinary, and a great dandy in 
his small clothes and Hessian boots with gold tassels. "His 
coat was wonderful in cloth, pattern, trimmings and buttons, 
and his waistcoat was a work of art. He wore a pigtail and on 
top of all a bell-crowned beaver hat, not what is called a beaver 
to-day, but made of beaver skin, shaggy like a terrier dog." 

Captain George has the distinction of being the first American 
yacht owner. As early as 1801 he had built in Salem a sloop 
called the Jefferson in which he cruised for several years. She 
was turned into a privateer in the War of 1812. While the 
Jefferson was beyond doubt the first vessel built for pleasure 
in this country, and the first yacht that ever flew the Stars and 
Stripes, her fame is overshadowed by that of the renowned 
Cleopatra s Barge, the second yacht owned by Captain Crown- 
inshield, and the first of her nation to cruise in foreign waters. 
The Cleopatra's Barge was a nine-days' wonder from Salem to the 
Mediterranean, and was in many ways one of the most remark- 
able vessels ever launched. 

Her owner found himself at forty-nine years in the prime of 
his adventurous energy with his occupation gone. The ship- 
ping firm founded by his father had been dissolved, and this 
member of the house fell heir to much wealth and leisure. 
Passionately fond of the sea and sailors he determined to build 
the finest vessel ever dreamed of by a sober-minded American, 
and to cruise and live aboard her for the remainder of his days. 
There were no other yachts to pattern after, wherefore the 
Cleopatra's Barge was modeled and rigged after the fashion of a 
smart privateer, or sloop-of-war. 

When she was launched in Salem harbor in 1817, at least a 
thousand curious people visited her every day she lay in port. 
Her fittings were gorgeous for her time, what with Oriental 
draperies, plate glass mirrors, sideboards, and plate. She was 
eighty-seven feet long, and in dimensions almost the counter- 

206 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



part of the famous sloop Mayflower of modern times. When 
she was ready for sea, this yacht had cost her owner fifty 
thousand dollars. She was rigged as a brigantine, and car- 
ried a mighty press of sail, studding-sails on the fore-yards, 
sky-sail, "ring-tail," "water-sail," and other handkerchiefs 
now unknown. 

With that bold individuality of taste responsible for the 
yellow curricle in which Captain George was wont to dazzle 
Salem, when he drove through the streets, he painted his yacht 
in different colors and patterns along her two sides. To star- 
board she showed a hull of horizontal stripes laid on in most 
of the colors of the rainbow. To port she w^as a curious " her- 
ring-bone" pattern of brilliant hues. Her stern was wide and 
pierced with little cabin windows. 

With his cousin Benjamin as skipper, and a friend, Samuel 
Curwen Ward, the owner sailed for the Mediterranean on what 
was destined to be a triumphant voyage. He had prepared 
himself with no fewer than three hundred letters of introduction 
to eminent civil, military and naval persons of Italy, Spain and 
other countries. The cook of the Cleopatra's Barge was a master 
of his craft, the stock of wine was choice and abundant, and if 
ever an open-handed yachtsman sailed the deep it was this 
Salem pioneer of them all. 

The vessel was the sensation of the hour in every port. Her 
journal recorded that an average of more than three thousand 
visitors came aboard on every pleasant day while she was in for- 
eign ports, and that in Barcelona eight thousand people came 
off to inspect her in one day. Wherever possible the owner 
chartered a band of music or devised other entertainment for 
his guests. His yacht was more than a pleasure barge, for he 
had the pleasure of beating the crack frigate United States in 
a run from Cartagena to Port Mahone, and on the way to 
Genoa she logged thirteen knots for twelve hours on end. 

207 



The ShijJs and Sailors of Old Salem 

It was at Genoa that an Italian astronomer of considerable 
distinction, Baron von Zack, paid a visit on board and several 
years later recorded his impressions of the Cleopatra's Barge in 
a volume, written in French, and published in Genoa in 1820. 

" How does it happen that the Commanders of French vessels, 
with thirty-four schools of Hydrography established in the 
Kingdom, either know not, or do not wish to know, how to 
calculate the longitude of their vessels by Lunar distances, while 
even the cooks and negroes of American vessels understand it? 

" I will now relate what I once witnessed on board an Ameri- 
can vessel, the Cleopatra's Barge, which arrived in the month 
of July, 1817, at the port of Genoa from Salem, one of the 
handsomest Towns in the State of Massachusetts, U. S. A., 
Lat. 42° 35' 20" N., Long. 73° 9' 30" W. All the city crowded 
to see this magnificent palace of Neptune; more than 20,000 
persons had visited this superb floating palace, and were aston- 
ished at its beauty, luxury and magnificence. I went among 
others. The owner was on board ; he was a gentleman of for- 
tune of Salem, who had amassed great riches during the late 
war with Great Britain. He was brother to the Secretary of 
the Navy of the United States. 

"This elegant vessel was built for his own amusement, after 
his own ideas, upon a plan and model new in very many respects, 
and was considered the swiftest sailer in America. He had 
traveled or sailed for his pleasure in this costly jewel (bijou) 
that appeared more the model of a cabinet of curiosities than a 
real vessel. He had left America in this charming shell (coquille) 
for the purpose of visiting Europe and making the tour of the 
Mediterranean & had already touched at the ports of Spain, 
France, Italy, the x\rchipelago, Dardanelles, coasts of Asia, 
Africa, etc. We have since heard of the death of this gentle- 
man, a short time after his return to Salem. His name was 
George Crowninshield — he was of German origin — his ancestor 

208 




Benjamin Cnnvninshield 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



was a Saxon officer who, having the misfortune to kill his adver- 
sary in a duel, sought refuge in America. The captain of this 
beautiful vessel was a lively old gentleman, a cousin to Mr. 
Crowninshield — his son, a young man, was also on board. I 
shall not here enter into detail concerning the remarkable con- 
struction of this vessel, still less her splendor — the public journals 
have already noticed them, 

"In making some enquiries respecting my friends and cor- 
respondents in Philadelphia and Boston, among others I men- 
tioned Dr. Bowditch. ' He is the friend of our family, and our 
neighbor in Salem,' replied the old Captain. 'My son, whom 
you see there, was his pupil; it is properly he, and not myself, 
that navigates this vessel; question him and see if he has profited 
by his instructions.' 

"I observed to this young man, 'you have had so excellent a 
teacher in Hydrography that you cannot fail of being well 
acquainted with the science. In making Gibralter what was 
the error in your longitude?' The young man replied, 'Six 
miles.' 'Your calculations were then very correct; how did 
you keep your ship's accounts?' 'By chronometers and by 
Lunar observations.' 'You then can ascertain your Longitude 
by Lunar distances?' 

"Here my young captain appearing to be offended with my 
question, replied with some warmth, 'What! I know how to 
calculate Lunar distances! Our cook can do that!' 'Your 
cook!' Here Mr. Crowninshield and the old Captain assured 
me, that the cook on board could calculate Longitude quite well ; 
that his taste for it frequently led him to do it. 'That is he,' 
said the young man, pointing to a Negro in the after part of the 
vessel, with a white apron about his waist, a fowl in one hand, 
and a carving knife in the other. 

'"Come here, John,' said the old Captain to him, 'this gen- 
tleman is surprised that you understand Lunar observations. 

209 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Answer his questions.' I asked, 'By what method do you 
calculate Lunar distances?' The cook answered, 'It is imma- 
terial — I use some time the method of MaskeljTie, Lyons, or 
Bowditch, but I prefer that of Dunthorne, as I am more accus- 
tomed to it.' I could hardly express my surprise at hearing 
that black-face answer in such a manner, with a bloody fowl 
and carving knife in his hands. 

" ' Go,' said Mr. Crowninshield, ' lay aside your fowl and bring 
your books and journal and show your calculations to the gen- 
tleman.' The cook returned with his books under his arms, 
consisting of Bowditch's Practical Navigator, Maskelyne's 
Requisite Tables, Hutton's Logarithms and the Nautical 
Almanack, abridged from the Greenwich Edition. I saw all 
the calculations this Negro had made on his passage, of Lati- 
tude, Longitude, Apparent Time, etc. He replied to all my 
questions with admirable precision, not merely in the phrases of 
a cook, but in correct nautical language. 

" This cook had sailed as cabin-boy with Captain Cook in his 
last voyage round the world and was acquainted with several 
facts relative to the assassination of the celebrated navigator at 
Owhyhee, February, 1779. 'The greatest part of the seamen 
on board the Barge,' said Mr. Crowninshield, 'can use the sex- 
tant and make nautical calculations.' 

"Indeed Mr. Crowninshield had with him many instructors. 
At Genoa he had taken one acquainted with Italian^ie had 
also on board an instructor in the French language, a young 
man who had lost his fingers in the Russian campaign. What 
instruction! what order! what correctness! what magnificence 
was to be observed in this Barge; I could relate many more 
interesting particulars concerning this true Barque of Cleo- 
patra." 

The editor of the Diario di Roma newspaper of Rome con- 
sidered the Cleopatra's Barge w^orthy of a eulogistic notice, a 

210 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



translation of which was printed in the Essex Register of 
October 11, 1817: 

" Soon after the visit of the fleet, there anchored in our port 
a schooner from America, of a most beautiful construction, 
elegantly found, very light, and formed for fast sailing, and 
armed like our light armed vessels. It was named the Cleo- 
patra, belonging to a very rich traveller, George Crowninshield, 
of Salem, who constructed her for his own use, and for the voy- 
ages he had undertaken in company with Captain Benjamin 
Crowninshield, his cousin. Besides the extreme neatness of 
everything about the vessel to fit her for sea, her accommoda- 
tions were surprising and wonderful. Below was a hall of 
uncommon extent, in which the luxury of taste, the riches and 
elegance of the furniture, the harmony of the drapery, and of 
all the ornaments, inspired pleasure and gallantry. The apart- 
ment of the stern was equally rich and interesting. Five con- 
venient bed chambers displayed with that same elegance, were 
at the service of the Captain, with an apartment for the plate 
of every kind, with which it was filled. Near was another 
apartment which admitted all the offices of a kitchen, and in it 
was a pump with three tubes which passed through the vessel, 
to supply water from the sea, or discharge what they pleased, 
with the greatest ease. 

"The rich and distinguished owner had with him beside his 
family servants, several linguists, persons of high talent in music, 
and an excellent painter. Everything to amuse makes a part 
of the daily entertainment. The owner and Captain were 
affable, pleasing and civil, and gave full evidence of the talents, 
the industry and the good taste of their nation, which yields to 
none in good sense and true civility. The above travellers having 
complied with the usual rules of the city, upon receiving a par- 
ticular invitation, he visited the Cleopatra in company with many 
persons of distinction, and partook of an elegant collation." 

211 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

The Salem Gazette of Sept. 26, 1817, contained the following 
" extract of a letter from a gentleman on board the Cleopatra's 
Barge "; 

"Barcelona, June 8. 

"You have undoubtedly heard of our movements in the 
Mediterranean; indeed you must have heard of us, from every 
place at which we have touched — for the Cleopatra's Barge is 
more celebrated abroad than at home. Even the Moors of 
Tangier visited us tho' they abhor the Christians. At Gibralter 
the Englishmen were astonished. In Malaga, Carthagena and 
this place the Spaniards have been thunderstruck. For these 
four days past the whole of this great city has been in an uproar. 
They begin to crowd on board at daylight, and continue to 
press upon us till night. This morning the Mole was so crowded 
with people waiting to come on board, that we have been obliged 
to get under weigh, and stand out of the Mole, yet the boats, 
with men, women and children, are rowing after us. Thus it 
has been in every place w^e have visited. In Port Mahon we 
were visited by all the officers of our squadron." 

Further tidings were conveyed to the admiring townspeople 
of Salem by means of an article in the Essex Register under date 
of Oct. 25th: 

"Having noticed the attention paid to the American barge 
Cleopatra, at Rome, we could not refuse the pleasure of assuring 
our friends that Capt. G. Crowninshield had been equally 
successful in arresting attention in France. The following is 
an extract from a Letter dated at Marseilles, 14th July, 1817, 
from a person long residing in France: ' Capt. G. Crowninshield 
left this port in the beginning of this month, for Toulon and 
Italy. During his stay here, thousands of both sexes were on 
board of his beautiful Vessel. Every day it was like a continual 
procession. It gave me the utmost pleasure, as the universal 

212 




lij) L'iysses — This painting shows a jury rudder about to be put in place at sea, in 1800. 
So ingenious was the display of seamanship in the rigging of this emergency rudder 
that her commander, Capt. Wm. Mugford. was awarded a medal by the American 
Philosophical Society 





Yacht Cleopatra's Barge, 191 tons, built in salem, 1816. shows the " herring-bone " 
design j)ainted in bright colors on side cf the yacht 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



opinion was that no vessel could compare with this Vessel. I 
felt proud that such a splendid specimen of what could be done 
in the United States was thus exhibited in Europe. We con- 
sider it as an act of patriotism. The Vessel was admired. The 
exquisite taste in her apartments greatly astonished the French 
for their amour propre had inclined them to believe that only 
in France the true gout was known. ' " 

The Cleopatra's Barge returned to Salem in triumph, but 
Captain George Crowninshield died on board while making 
ready for a second voyage abroad. She was sold and converted 
into a merchantman, made a voyage to Rio, then rounded the 
Horn, and at the Sandwich Islands was sold to King Kame- 
hameha to be used as a royal yacht. Only a year later her 
native crew put her on a reef and the career of the Cleopatra's 
Barge was ended in this picturesque but inglorious fashion. 

In reading the old-time stories of the sea, one is apt to forget 
that wives and sweethearts were left at home to wait and yearn 
for their loved ones, for these logs and journals deal with the 
day's work of strong men as they fought and sailed and traded 
in many seas. Few letters which they sent home have been 
preserved. It is therefore the more appealing and even touch- 
ing to find in a fragment of the log of the ship Rubicon, the 
expression of such sentiment as most of these seamen must have 
felt during the lonely watches in mid-ocean. It is a curious 
document, this log, written by a shipmaster whose name cannot 
be found in the bundle of tattered sheets rescued from the 
rubbish of an old Salem garret. 

On the fly leaf is scrawled : 

"Boston, May the 11th, 1816. Took a pilot on board the 
Ship Rubicon and sailed from Charlestown. 12th of May at 
3 P.M. came to an anchor above the Castle, the wind S.E." 

The ship was bound from Boston to St. Petersburg, and after 
he had been a week at sea, her master began to write at the 

213 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

bottom of the pages of his log certain intimately personal senti- 
ments which he sought to conceal in a crude cipher of his own 
devising. The first of these entries reads as follows as the 
captain set it down, letter by letter: 

"L nb wvzi druv what hszoo R dirgv go uroo gsrh hswg R droo 
gvoo blf gszg R ollp blfi ovgvih levi zmw levi zmw drhs nv rm blf 

zinh yfg R dzng rm kzgrvmxv gsrmprmt Im Z szkb nvvgrmt R zn 

dvoo." 

It is not easy to fathom why the captain of the good ship 
Rubicon should have chosen to make such entries as this in the 
log. This much is clear, however, that he longed to say what 
was in his heart and he wished to keep it safe from prying 
eyes. He left no key to his cipher, but his code was almost 
childish in its simplicity, and was promptly unraveled by the 
finder of the manuscript, David Mason Little of Salem. The 
old shipmaster reversed the alphabet, setting down " Z " for 
"A," "Y" for "B," and so on, or for convenience in working 
it out, the letters may be olaced as follows : 

A— Z N— M 

B— Y O— L 

C— X P— K 

D— W Q— J 

E— V R— I 

F— U S — H 

G— T T— G 

H— S U— F 

I — R V— E 

J— Q W-D 

K— P X— C 

L— O Y— B 

M— N Z —A 

Reading from the top of the column, the letters of the reversed 
alphabet are to be substituted for the letters standing opposite 

214 









aVi 



:^ A-rrJ~ 



^^^^^-^ -K^ ^^^-^^,^9^ y^W^-^a ^-r~c^^-*yL^ ol^*/ 

<sfcV <^ ...^^^^l^ J^i^^ cy^»..c^ j-a,..,<J^ oc^^a^ 



1 ^ 



.A^^^-'-^^^'V ^^^6'^^'^^/ 



--v^ 



6' 



' CC^'^A 



M . ■ / 



/^v 









Uf^jk 



f-^t^-l- 



\ 



f' 



0^ 






)(yy»7(~~ 






■'2A<aL*^ ^ 



/ 



a^4 yyr^e>-7^ -y^^ ^^ 



32 of 



I — I 1 1 L 

£ .r^J- -^-^<'' "^^^^ ^^"^ -''^■^^"' ^ ""^^ 

•'^^j^ -TT/^ ^>->»7 iCZ/ ^<!ony^ ji^^ /L. '<^^>^ -T^*^ A^^*<i^ -^ 
the <j(kk1 sliip RNhlrov, sliowincj the captain's ciplier at the bottom of tlie pa<. 



i 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



them in their normal order. The passage already quoted 
therefore translates itself as follows: 

" O, Dear Wife, what shall I write to fill this sheet. I will 
tell you that I look your letters over and over and wish me in 
your arms, but I wait in patience, thinking on a happy meeting. 
I am well." 

Other messages which this sailor wrote from his heart and 
confided to his cipher in the log of the Rubicon read in this wise: 

" My Heart within me (is) ashes. I want to see my loving 
Wife and press her to my bosom. But, O, my days are gone 
and past no more to return forever." 

"True, undivided and sincere love united with its own 
object is one of the most happy Passions that possesses the 
human heart." 

" Joanna, this day brings to my mind grateful reflections. 

" This is the day that numbers thirty years of my Dear's life. 
O, that I could lay in her arms to-night and recount the days 
that have passed away in youthful love and pleasure." 

"The seed is sown, it springs up and grows to maturity, then 
drops its seed and dies away, while the young shoot comes up 
and takes its place. And so it is with Man that is born to die." 

Now and then a sea tragedy is so related in these old log books 
that the heart is touched with a genuine sympathy for the 
victim, as if he were more than a name, as if he were a friend 
or a neighbor. It is almost certain that no one alive to-day has 
ever heard of Aaron Lufkin, able seaman, who sailed from 
Calcutta for the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1799. The 
ship's clerk, W^illiara Cleveland of Salem, who kept a journal 
of the voyage, wrote of this sailor in such a way that you will 

215 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

be able to see him for what he was, and will perhaps wish no 
better epitaph for yourself : 

"Aaron Lufkin, one of the most active of our seamen held 
out till he was scarcely able to walk, but as this appeared to be 
fatigue, his case was not particularly observed by the Captain 
nor officers. When he first complained he said he had been 
unwell for some days but that there were so few on duty he 
would stand it out. Unfortunately his zeal for his duty cost 
him his life, for on the 17th of April he died after lingering in 
torment for several days. He was often out of his head and 
continually on the fly when no person was attending him, and 
constantly talking of his father, mother and sisters, which 
shewed how fond he was of them. Indeed his little purchases 
in Calcutta for his sisters were a sufficient proof. He was the 
only son of a respectable tradesman in the town of Freeport 
(Maine) and the brother of eight or nine sisters, all of which 
were younger than himself, though he was but twenty years 
old." 

The death of an able seaman, under such peaceful circum- 
stances as these, was a matter of no importance except to his 
kindred and his shipmates. It is significant of the spirit and 
singularly dramatic activity of those times that the loss of a 
whole ship's company might be given not so much space in the 
chronicles of the town as the foregoing tribute to poor Aaron 
Lufkin. Indeed "Felt's Annals of Salem" is fairly crowded 
with appalling tragedies, told in a few bald lines, of which the 
following are quoted as examples of condensed narration: 

"News is received here that Captain Joseph Orne in the 
ship Essex had arrived at Mocha, with $60,000 to purchase 
coffee, and that Mahomet Ikle, commander of an armed ship, 
persuaded him to trade at Hadidido, and to take on board 30 
of his Arabs to help navigate her thither while his vessel kept 
her company; that on the approach of night, and at a concerted 

216 



Pio7ieers in Distant Seas 



signal, the Arabs attacked the crew of the Essex, and Ikle laid 
his ship alongside, and that the result was the slaughter of 
Captain Orne, and all his men, except a Dutch boy named 
John Hermann Poll. The Essex was plundered and burnt. 
The headless corpse of Capt. Orne and the mutilated remains 
of a merchant floated on shore and were decently buried. It 
was soon after ascertained that the faithless Mahomet was a 
notorious pirate of that country. He kept the lad whose life 
he had spared, as a slave until 1812, when Death kindly freed 
him from his cruel bondage." 

On the 13th of November, 1807, "the ship Marquis de 
Somerculas^ arrives hither from Cronstadt and Elsinore. She 
brings in eleven men, a woman called Joanna Evans, and her 
child, which were picked up Oct. 28th in a longboat. The rest 
being eight in number, were rescued at the same time on board 
a ship from Philadelphia. They had been in the boat six 
days, during which seven of their company died of starvation. 
The living, in order to sustain themselves, fed upon the dead. 
They were the remains of one hundred and ten souls on board 
an English transport which was waterlogged and then blew up 



* "A narrative dated Sept. 18, 1806, is published. It relates that the ship 
Marquis de Sumereulas, Captain WilHam Story, on the coast of Sumatra, had a 
narrow escape from being surprised by some of the natives. Two proas came 
alongside with fourteen men who were allowed to come on board. Only five 
of the ship's company were left on deck. The mate and rest of the hands were 
stowing the cargo. The captain, being in the cabin, heard INlr. Bromfield, the 
clerk who was above, exclaim that he was cresed. The sailmaker ran to his 
rescue, but was dangerously wounded and jumped down the hatchway. All 
the hands below were ordered to gain the deck, though they had scarcely any 
arms. The captain, while endeavoring to ascend the companionway, was 
attacked with boarding pikes. His men attempted to get up but were rej>ulsed 
with several of them wounded. They were rallied and another effort was 
about to be made. The injunction was given that if they did not succeed, 
and the Malays took possession of the ship, a match should be applied to the 
magazine to blow her up. In the meanwhile the natives had retreated, which 
was immediately discovered by the crew who got on deck with the expectation 
of a deadly contest. Mr. Bromfield was found dead. The carpenter and 
cook were missing, but these two had escaped in a boat and soon returned to 
unite with their comrades." (Felt's "Annals of Salem.") 

217 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and foundered. The captain and some of his men, being in a 
small boat, by some means or other separated from those in the 
long boat and were never afterwards heard of. After the sad 
story of these shipwrecked sufferers was generally known among 
our citizens, they experienced from them the most kindly 
sympathy and substantial aid to the amount of between two 
and three hundred dollars." 

A more cheerful story, and one which may be called an old- 
fashioned sea yarn, was told with much detail by a writer in the 
Salem Evening Journal in 1855, who had received it at first 
hand from a shipmate of the hero. In 1808, when England 
was nominally at peace with the United States, but molesting 
her commerce and impressing her seamen with the most perni- 
cious energy, the bark Active, of Salem, arrived at Martha's 
Vineyard and Captain Richardson reported that "while on his 
course for Europe he was captured by an English letter-of- 
marque, whose commander put seven men on board with Cap- 
tain Richardson and three of his crew, the rest of his men being 
taken from him and the bark ordered to Nevis. When near 
that port the Americans seized upon the arms of the English, 
confined them in irons, and put away for home where Captain 
Richardson afterwards arrived in safety." 

"A few years ago," narrates the loquacious contributor to 
the Salem Evening Journal of 1855, "the writer heard from one 
who was on board the barque Active on the above mentioned 
voyage a somewhat amusing account of one of the crew, who 
came down from New Hampshire, when she was about ready 
to sail, and not being able to find any work on shore, shipped 
with Capt. Richardson and went to sea. As a matter of course, 
our country friend, as far as regarded nautical phrases and the 
'ropes' generally, was extremely verdant. To use his own 
words, he 'didn't really know t'other from which." Capt. 
Richardson knew all this beforehand, but he also knew that 

218 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



our Yankee friend was a tall, stout, and very smart young man 
and so he did not hesitate at all about taking him on board his 
vessel. The chief mate, however, not being so well aware of 
Peleg's verdancy as the Captain, and observing that he stood 
with his hands in his pockets gazing curiously around the ship, 
whilst the rest of the crew were engaged in getting the anchor 
secured, addressed him thus: 

"'Who are you?' 

"'Peleg Sampson, from away up in Moultonboro, State of 
New Hampshire. I say, it's a dernation mighty curious place 
this, ain't it?' 

"Rather surprised at the familiar manner of our Yankee 
friend, the mate replied: 

" ' I guess you'll find it curious enough before the voyage is up. 
Lay forward there and help cat that anchor.' 

"Whilst the mate stepped on the forecastle for the purpose 
of superintending this necessary operation, Peleg began to 
search all around the deck with a minuteness that would have 
done honor to an experienced gold-hunter. After he had been 
for a few minutes thus engaged, he followed the mate to the 
forecastle deck and said : 

"'I say, mister, I cack'late there ain't any of them critters 
here.' 

"'What critters? You d — n land-lubber,' said the mate. 

"'Cats,' returned Peleg, with an innocent gravity of tone 
and manner, which made the sailors turn from their work and 
gaze, open-mouthed, upon their verdant shipmate. 

"'Who the said anything about cats?' asked the mate. 

"'Wliy you, you tarnal goslin,' returned Peleg somewhat 
tartly. * Didn't you tell me to help cat the anchor, and before 
I could do that ere, hadn't I got to find the animal to do it with, 
hey, what?' 

" On hearing this reply to the mate's question, the old salts 

219 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

burst out in a loud, uproarious guffaw, in which the chief 
officer most heartily joined, as he had by this time become most 
fully aware that Peleg was nothing more nor less than a 'green 
hand.' 

" About a w^eek afterwards, when the Active had got well out 
to sea, and Peleg had recovered from a severe fit of seasickness 
so as to be able to be about the decks, the mate, being in want 
of an article from aloft, said to Peleg: 

" ' Go up in the maintop there, and bring down a slush bucket 
that's made fast to the topmast rigging.' 

'"What, up these rope-ladders do you want me to go.?' asked 
Peleg, with a scared look at the main-rigging. 

"'Yes,' returned the mate, 'and be spry about it, too.' 

"'Can't do any such business,' returned Peleg, in a very 
decided tone of voice. 'Why don't you tell me to run over- 
board. I should jest as soon think on't, really. Now I'm 
ready to pull and haul, or wrestle, back to back, Indian hug, or 
any way you like, fight the darnation Englishers till I'm knocked 
down, or do anything I kin do, but as to going up them darna- 
tion littleish rope-ladders, I can't think of it nohow.' 

" Thinking it would be as well not to urge the matter farther 
at that time, the mate sent another hand for the slush bucket, 
and thus the affair ended. Afterwards, however, as we learned 
from the same authority, Peleg became one of the smartest 
sailors on board the vessel, and in the affair of retaking the ship 
from English, did most excellent and efficient service." 

In Felt's Annals of Salem, it is related under date of Feb- 
ruary 21, 1802, "the ships Ulysses, Captain James Cook; Brutus, 
Captain William Brown, owned by the Messrs. Crowninshield ; 
and the Valiisia, Captain Samuel Cook, belonging to Israel 
W^illiams and others sailed for Europe (on the same day). 
Though when they departed the weather was remarkably 
pleasant for the season, in a few hours a snowstorm commenced. 

220 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



After using every exertion to clear Cape Cod the tempest forced 
them the next day upon its perilous shore. The most sad of 
all in this threefold catastrophe was the loss of life in the 
Brutus. One hand was killed by the fore-yard prior to the 
ship striking; another was drowned while attempting to reach 
the shore, and the commander with six men perished with the 
cold after they had landed, while anxiously seeking some shelter 
for their wet, chilled, and exhausted bodies." 

" (1819) July 16. A few days since one of our sailors was 
exceedingly frightened by meeting in the street what he really 
believed to be the ghost of a shipmate. This person was Peter 
Jackson, whose worth as a cook was no less because he had a 
black skin. He had belonged to the brig Ceres. As she was 
coming down the river from Calcutta, she was thrown on her 
beam ends and Peter fell overboard. Among the things thrown 
to him was a sail-boom on which he was carried away from the 
vessel by the rapid current. Of course all on board concluded 
that he was downed or eaten by crocodiles, and so they reported 
when reaching home. Administration had been taken on his 
goods and chattels and he was dead in the eye of the law. But 
after floating twelve hours he was cast ashore and as soon as 
possible hastened homeward. Notwithstanding he had hard 
work to do away with the impression of his being dead, he 
succeeded and was allowed the rights and privileges of the 
living." 

While Newport and Bristol, of all the New England ports, 
did the most roaring trade in slaves and rum with the west 
coast of Africa, Salem appears to have had comparatively few 
dealings with this kind of commerce. Slavers were fitted out 
and owned in Salem, but they were an inconsiderable part of 
the shipping activity, and almost the only records left to 
portray this darker side of seafaring America in the olden times 
are fragmentary references such as those already quoted and 

221 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

these which follow. There has been preserved a singularly 
pitiful letter from a Salem boy to his mother at home. It 
reads : 

"Cayenne, April 23, 1789. 
"Honour'd Parent: 

"I take this Opportunity to write Unto you to let you know 
of a very bad accident that Happen'd on our late passage from 
Cape Mount, on the Coast of Africa, bound to Cayenne. We 
sailed from Cape Mount the 13th of March with 36 Slaves on 
bord. The 26th day of March the Slaves Rised upon us. At 
half -past seven, my Sire and Hands being fore ward Except the 
Man at the helm, and myself, three of the Slaves took Possession 
of the Caben, and two upon the Quarter Deck. Them in the 
Caben took Possession of the fier Arms, and them on the quarter 
Deck with the Ax and Cutlash and Other Weapons. Them in 
the Caben handed up Pistels to them on the quarter Deck. 

"One of them fired and killed my Honoured Sire, and still 
we strove for to subdue them, and then we got on the Quarter 
Deck and killed two of them. One that was in the Caben was 
Comeing out at the Caben Windows in order to get on Deck, 
and we discovered him and Knock'd him overbord. Two being 
in the Caben we confined the Caben Doors so that they should 
not kill us. 

"Then three men went fore ward and got the three that was 
down their and brought them aft. And their being a Doctor 
on board, a Passenger that could Speak the Tongue, he sent one 
of the boys down and Brought up some of the fier Arms and 
Powder. And then we cal'd them up and one came up, and 
he Cal'd the other and he Came up. We put them In Irons 
and Chained them and then the Doctor Dres'd the People's 
•Wounds, they being Slightly Wounded. Then it was one 
o'clock. 

"They buried my Honoured Parent, he was buried as decent 

222 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



as he could be at Sea, the 16th of this Month. I scalt myself 
with hot Chocolate but now I am abel to walk about again. So 
I remain in good Health and hope to find you the Same and 
all my Sisters and Brothers and all that Inquires after Me. 
We have sold part of the Slaves and I hope to be home soon. 
So I Remain your Most Dutiful Son, 

"Wm. Fairfield. 
"Addressed to Mrs. Rebecca Fairfield, 
"Salem, New England." 

Under date of May 29, 1789, Doctor Bentley wrote in his 
diary : 

"On Wednesday went to Boston and returned on Friday. 
News of the death of Captain William Fairfield who com- 
manded the Schooner which sailed in Captain Joseph White's 
employ in the African Slave Trade. He was killed by the 
Negroes on board." 

This following letter of instructions to one of the few Salem 
captains in the slave trade was written in 1785, under date of 
November 12th: 

"Our brig of which you have the command, being cleared at 
the office, and being in every other respect complete for sea, our 
orders are that you embrace the first fair wind and make the 
best of your way to the Coast of Africa and there invest your 
cargo in slaves. As slaves, like other articles when brought to 
market, generally appear to the best advantage, therefore too 
critical an inspection cannot be paid to them before purchase; 
to see that no dangerous distemper is lurking about them, to 
attend particularly to their age, to their countenance, to the 
strength of their limbs, and as far as possible to the goodness or 
badness of their constitutions, etc, will be very considerable 
objects. 

" Male or female slaves, whether full grown, or not, we cannot 

223 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

particularly instruct you about, and on this head shall only 
observe that prime male slaves generally sell best in any market. 
No people require more kind and tender treatment to exhilarate 
their spirits than the Africians, and while on the one hand you 
are attentive to this, remember that, on the other hand, too 
much circumspection cannot be observed by yourself and people 
to prevent their taking advantage of such treatment by insur- 
rection and so forth. When you consider that on the health 
of your slaves almost your whole voyage depends, you will 
particularly attend to smoking your vessel, washing her with 
vinegar, to the clarifying your water with lime or brimstone, 
and to cleanliness among your own people as well as among 
the slaves." 

These singularly humane instructions are more or less typical 
of the conduct of the slave trade from New England during the 
eighteenth century when pious owners expressed the hope that 
"under the blessing of God" they might obtain full caroges of 
negroes. The ships were roomy, comparatively comfortable 
quarters were provided, and every effort made to prevent losses 
by disease and shortage of water and provisions. It was not 
until the nations combined to drive the traffic from the high seas 
that slavers were built for speed, crammed to the hatches with 
tortured negroes and hard-driven for the West Indies and 
Liverpool and Charleston through the unspeakable horrors of 
the Middle Passage. 

Salem records are not proud of even the small share of the 
town in this kind of commerce, and most of the family papers 
which dealt with slave trading have been purposely destroyed. 
It is true also that public sentiment opposed the traffic at an 
earlier date than in such other New England ports as Bristol 
and Newport. Slaves captured in British privateers during 
the Revolution were not permitted to be sold as property, but 
were treated as prisoners of war. The refusal of Elias Hasket 

2U 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



Derby to let his ship Grand Turk take slaves aboard on her first 
voyage to the Gold Coast was an unusual proceeding for a 
shipping merchant of that time. Nor according to Doctor 
Bentley was the slave trade in the best repute among the people 
of the place. 

While Salem commerce was rising in a flood tide of enter- 
prising achievement in the conquest of remote and mysterious 
markets on the other side of the globe, and the wounds left by 
the Revolution were scarcely healed, her ships began to bring 
home new tales of outrage at the hands of British, French and 
Spanish privateers and men-of-war. There was peace only in 
name. In 1790, or only seven years after the end of the Revo- 
lution, seamen were bitterly complaining of seizures and im- 
pressments by English ships, and the war with France was 
clouding the American horizon. The Algerine pirates also had 
renewed their informal activities against American shipping, 
and the shipmasters of Salem found themselves between several 
kinds of devils and the deep sea wherever they laid their 
courses. 

The history of the sea holds few more extraordinary stories 
than that related of a Salem sailor and cherished in the maritime 
chronicles of the town. 

"On the 14th of August, 1785, a French vessel from Mar- 
tinique, bound to Bordeaux came up with the body of a man 
floating at some fifty rods distance. The captain ordered four 
men into the boat to pick it up. When brought on board, to 
the great surprise of the crew, the supposed dead body breathed. 
Half an hour afterwards the man opened his eyes and exclaimed : 
'O God, where am I.'^' On taking off his clothes to put him 
to bed it was discovered that he had on a cork jacket and 
trousers. It was afterwards ascertained that he had sailed 
from Salem in a brig bound to Madrid. The brig was attacked 
by Sallee pirates and captured. This sailor, pretending to be 

225 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

lame, was neglected by the Moors who had captured him. 
About 11 o'clock at night, having put on his cork apparatus, 
he let himself down from the forechains into the water unper- 
ceived. He swam about two days when he being quite ex- 
hausted, his senses left him, in which state he was discovered 
by the men from the Frigate. On his arrival at Bordeaux he 
was presented by the Chamber of Commerce with a purse of 
300 crowns." 

On February 10th, 1795, the following appeal was posted in 
the streets of Salem : 

"For the purpose of taking into consideration the unhappy 
situation of the unfortunate prisoners at Algiers, and to de- 
vise some Method for carrying into effect a General Collection 
for their Relief on Thursday, the 19th day of the present 
Month! 

" The Meeting is called by the desire of the Reverend Clergy 
and other Respectable Citizens of this Town who wish to have 
some System formed that will meet the Acceptance of the 
Inhabitants previous to the Day of Contribution. 

"The truly deplorable fate of these miserable captives loudly 
calls for your Commiseration, and the Fervent Prayers they 
have addressed to you from their Gloomy Prisons ought to 
soften the most Adamantine Heart. They intreat you in the 
most Impassioned Language not to leave them to dispair, but 
as Prisoners of Hope, let those of them who still survive the 
Plague, Pestilence, and Famine, anticipate the day that shall 
relieve them from the Cruel scourge of an Infidel, and restore 
them to the Arms of their long-bereaved Friends and Country. 

" It is hoped that the Humane and Benevolent will attend that 
Charity may not be defeated of her intended Sacrifice in the 
auspicious Festival, when the New World shall all be assembled, 
and the United States shall offer her tribute of Praise and 
Thanksgiving at the Altars of God."* 

226 



Pioneers in Distant Seas 



An item of the date of February 16th, 1794, records that 
"information is received that Edward Harwood, mate, James 
Peas and Samuel Henry of Salem, lately returned from Algerine 
captivity were apportioned shares of a benefit previously taken 
for such sufferers at the Boston Theatre." 

* The 19th of February, 1795, was a day of National Thanksgiving ordered 
by proclamation of President Washington. 



227 



CHAPTER XII 

THE BUILDING OF THE ESSEX 

(1799) 

1 "TWENTIETH century battleships are built at a cost of 
six or seven millions of dollars with the likelihood of 
becoming obsolete before they fire a gun in action. 
It is a task of years to construct one of these mighty fabrics, 
short-lived as they are in service, and crammed with intricate 
machinery whose efficiency under stress of war is largely 
experimental. 

One hundred and ten years ago there was launched from a 
Salem shipyard a wooden sailing frigate called the Essex. She 
was the fastest and handsomest vessel of the United States 
navy and a dozen years after she first flew the flag of her country 
she won immortal renown under Captain David Porter. There 
is hardly a full-rigged sailing ship afloat to-day as small as the 
Essex, and in tonnage many modern three-masted coasting 
schooners can equal or surpass her. Yet her name is one of the 
most illustrious in the list of a navy which bears also those of 
the Constitution, the Hartford, the Kearsarge and the Olympia. 

It was the maritime war with France at the end of the eigh- 
teenth century which caused the building of the Essex. When 
American commerce was being harried unto death by the 
frigates and privateersmen of "the Terrible Republic" as our 
sailors called France, our shadow of a navy was wholly helpless 
to resist, or to protect its nation's shipping. At length, in 1797, 
Congress authorized the construction of the three famous 
frigates. Constitution, Constellation and United States, to fight 

228 



The Building of the Essex 



for American seamen's rights. The temper and conditions of 
that time were reflected in an address to Congress deHvered 
by President John Adams on November 23, 1797, in which he 
said: 

"The commerce of the United States is essential, if not to 
their existence, at least to their comfort, growth and prosperity. 
The genius, character and habits of our people are highly com- 
mercial. Their cities have been formed and exist upon com- 
merce; our agriculture, fisheries, arts and manufactures are 
connected with and dependent upon it. In short, commerce 
has made this country what it is, and it cannot be destroyed or 
neglected without involving the people in poverty or distress. 
Great numbers are directly and solely supported by navigation. 
The faith of society is pledged for the preservation of the rights 
of commercial and seafaring, no less than other citizens. Under 
this view of our affairs I should hold myself guilty of neglect of 
duty if I forebore to recommend that we should make every 
exertion to protect our commerce and to place our country in a 
suitable posture of defence as the only sure means of preserv- 
ing both." 

The material progress of this country has veered so far from 
seafaring activities that such doctrine as this sounds as archaic 
as a Puritan edict for bearing arms to church as a protection 
against hostile savages. One great German or English liner 
entering the port of New York registers a tonnage equaling 
that of the whole fleet of ships in the foreign trade of Salem in 
her golden age of adventurous discovery. Yet the liner has 
not an American among her crew of five hundred men, and not 
one dollar of American money is invested in her huge hull. She 
is a matter of the most complete indifference to the American 
people, who have ceased to care under what flags their com- 
merce is borne over seas. 

On the other hand, the shipping of Salem and other ports was 

229 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a factor vital to national welfare a century ago. But when 
John Adams preached the necessity of resorting to arms to 
protect it, the country was too poor to create a navy adequate 
for defense. Forthwith the merchants whose ships were being 
destroyed in squadrons by French piracy offered to contribute 
their private funds to build a fleet of frigates that should rein- 
force the few naval vessels in commission or authorized. 

It was a rally for the common good, a patriotic movement in 
which the spirit of '76 flamed anew. The principles that 
moved the American people were voiced by James McHenry, 
Secretary of War in 1789, in a letter to the Chairman of the 
Committee of the House of Representatives for the Protection 
of Commerce: 

"France derives several important advantages from the sys- 
tem she is pursuing toward the United States. Besides the 
sweets of plunder obtained by her privateers she keeps in them 
a nursery of seamen to be drawn upon in conjunctures by the 
navy. She unfits by the same means the United States for 
energetic measures and thereby prepares us for the last degree 
of humiliation and subjection. 

" To forbear under such circumstances from taking naval and 
military measures to secure our trade, defend our territories in 
case of invasion, and to prevent or suppress domestic insurrec- 
tion, would be to offer up the United States a certain prey to 
France . . . and exhibit to the world a sad spectacle of 
national degradation and imbecility." 

In June of the following year. Congress passed an act "to 
accept not exceeding twelve vessels on the credit of the United 
States, and to cause evidences of debt to be given therefor, 
allowing an interest thereon not exceeding six per cent." It 
was in accordance with this measure, which confessed that 
the United States was too poor to build a million dollars' worth 
of wooden ships of w^ar from its treasury, that subscription 

230 




^ 



The Building of the Essex 



lists were opened at Newbury, Salem, Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk, the citizens of each of 
these seaports making ready to contribute a frigate as a loan 
to the government. Even the infant city of Cincinnati sub- 
scribed toward equipping a galley for the defense of the Mis- 
sissippi against the French. 

At Salem, Elias Hasket Derby and William Gray, the two 
foremost shipping merchants of the town, led the subscription 
list with the sum of ten thousand dollars each, and in a few 
weeks $74,700 had been raised in contributions as small as 
fifty dollars. 

The Salem Gazette of October 26, 1798, contained this item: 
" At a meeting in the Courthouse in this town Tuesday evening 
last, of those gentlemen who have subscribed to build a ship 
for the service of the United States, it was voted unanimously 
to build a Frigate of thirty-two guns and to loan the same to 
the Government; and William Gray, jr., John Norris and 
Jacob Ashton, Esqr., Captain Benjamin Hodges and Captain 
Ichabod Nichols were chosen a committee to carry the same 
into immediate effect." Captain Joseph Waters was appointed 
General Agent, and Enos Briggs, a shipbuilder of Salem, was 
selected as master builder. 

The Master Builder inserted this advertisement in the Essex 
Gazette: 

"The Salem Frigate 

"Take Notice. 

"To Sons of Freedom! All true lovers of Liberty of your 
Country. Step forth and give your assistance in building the 
frigate to oppose French insolence and piracy. Let every man 
in possession of a white oak tree be ambitious to be foremost 
in hurrying down the timber to Salem where the noble structure 
is to be fabricated to maintain your rights upon the seas and 

231 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

make the name of America respected among the nations of the 
world. Your largest and longest trees are wanted, and the 
arms of them for knees and rising timber. Four trees are wanted 
for the keel, which altogether will measure 146 feet in length, 
and hew 16 inches square. Please to call on the subscriber 
who wants to make contracts for large or small quantities as 
may suit best and will pay the ready cash. 

"Enos Briggs. 
"Salem, November 23, 1798." 

So enthusiastic was the response to the call for material that 
Master Builder Enos Briggs was obliged to have this adver- 
tisement printed: 

"The Salem Frigate 

" Through the medium of the Gazette the subscriber pays his 
acknowledgements to the good people of the county of Essex 
for their spirited exertions in bringing down the trees of the 
forest for building the Frigate. In the short space of four 
weeks the complement of timber has been furnished. Those 
who have contributed to their country's defence are invited 
to come forward and receive the reward of their patriotism. 
They are informed that with permission of a kind Providence, 
who hath hitherto favored the undertaking. 

Next September is the time 

When we'll launch her from the strand 
And our cannon load and prime 
With tribute due to Talleyrand. 

"Enos Briggs. 
"Salem, Jan. 1, 1799." 

The great timbers for the ship's hull were cut in the "wood 
lots " of Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and other near-by towns of 
Essex county and hauled through the snowy streets of Salem 
on sleds drawn by slow-moving oxen, while the people cheered 

23^ 



The Building of the Essex 



them as they passed. The keel of the frigate was laid on the 
13th of April, 1799, and she was launched five months and 
seventeen days later, on the 30th of September, Master Builder 
Briggs saving his reputation as a prophet by the narrowest 
possible margin. 

The Essex was a Salem ship from keel to truck. Her cordage 
was made in three rope walks. Captain Jonathan Haraden, 
the most famous Salem privateersman of the Revolution, made 
the rigging for the mainmast at his factory in Brown Street. 
Joseph Vincent fitted out the foremast and Thomas Briggs the 
mizzenmast in their rigging lofts at the foot of the Common. 
When the huge hemp cables were ready to be carried to the 
frigate, the workmen who had made them conveyed them to 
the shipyard on their shoulders, the procession led by a fife and 
drum. Her sails w^ere cut from duck woven for the purpose at 
Daniel Rust's factory in Broad Street, and her iron work was 
forged by the Salem shipsmiths. Six months before she slid 
into the harbor her white oak timbers were standing in the 
woodlands of Massachusetts. 

The glorious event of her launching inspired the editor of the 
Salem Gazette to this flight of eulogy: 

"And Adams said : ' Let there be a navy and there was a navy.' 
To build a navy was the advice of our venerable sage. How far 
it had been adhered to is demonstrated by almost every town 
in the United States that is capable of floating a galley or a 
gun-boat. 

"Salem has not been backward in this laudable design. 
Impressed with a sense of the importance of a navy, the patriotic 
citizens of this town put out a subscription and thereby obtained 
an equivalent for building a vessel of force. Among the fore- 
most in this good work were Messrs. Derby and Gray, who set 
the example by subscribing ten thousand dollars each. But 
alas, the former is no more — we trust his good deeds follow him. 

233 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

"Such was the patriotic zeal with which our citizens were 
inspired, that in the short space of six months they contracted 
for the materials and equipment of a frigate of thirty-two guns, 
and had her complete for launching. The chief part of her 
timber was standing but six months ago, and in a moment as 
it were, ' every grove descended ' and put in force the patriotic 
intentions of those at whose expense she was built. 

" Yesterday the Stars and Stripes were unfurled on board the 
frigate Essex and at 12 o'clock she made a majestic movement 
into her destined element, there to join her sister craft in repelling 
foreign aggressions and maintaining the rights and liberties of a 
'Great, Free, Powerful and Independent Nation.' 

"The concourse of spectators was immense. The heart-felt 
satisfaction of the beholders of this magnificent spectacle was 
evinced by the concording shouts and huzzas of thousands 
which reiterated from every quarter. 

"The unremitting zeal of Mr. Briggs, the architect of this 
beautiful ship, cannot be too highly applauded. His assiduity 
in bringing her into a state of such perfection in so short a time 
entitles him to the grateful thanks of his Country and we fondly 
hope his labors have not been spent in vain, for we may truly 
say that he has not ' given rest to the sole of his foot ' since her 
keel was first laid. At least he will have the consolation of 
reflecting on the important service he has rendered his country 
in this notable undertaking." 

The guns of the frigate had been planted on a near-by hill, 
and as she took the water they thundered a salute which was 
echoed by the cannon of armed merchant vessels in the harbor. 
This famous frigate, literally built by the American people, 
their prayers and hopes wrought into every timber of her with 
the labor of their own hands, cost a trifle less than $75,000 
when turned over to the Government. The Essex was a large 
vessel for her time, measuring 850 tons. She was 146 feet in 

234 



The Building of the Essex 



length "over all," while her keel was 118 feet long. Her beam 
was 37 feet and her depth of hold 12 feet 3 inches. The height 
between her gun deck and lower deck was only 5 feet 9 inches. 
Her mainmast was 85 feet long with a head of 12 feet. Above 
this was a topmast 55 feet long with a head of 7^ feet, and 
towering skyward from the topmast her topgallant mast of 
40 feet with a head of 15 feet. Her mainyard was 80 feet long. 
Rigged as a three-masted ship, with an unusual spread of 
canvas, the Essex must have been a rarely beautiful marine 
picture when under way. The handling of such a majestic 
fabric as one of these old-time men-of-war is mirrored in the 
song of " The Fancy Frigate " which describes how such a ship 
as this noble Essex was manned by the hundreds of tars who 
swarmed among her widespread yards: 

"Now my brave boys comes the best of the fun. 
All hands to make sail, going large is the song. 
From under two reefs in our topsails we lie. 
Like a cloud in the air, in an instant must fly. 
There's topsails, topgallant sails, and staysails too, 
There is stu'nsails and skysails, star gazers so high, 
By the soimd of one pipe everything it must fly. 
Now, my brave boys, comes the best of the fun. 
About ship and reef topsails in one. 
All hands up aloft when the helm goes down. 
Lower way topsails when the mainyard goes round. 
Chase up and lie out and take two reefs in one, 
In a moment of time all this work must be done. 
Man your head braces, your haulyards and all. 
And hoist away topsails when it's 'let go and haul,' 
As for the use of tobacco all thoughts leave behind. 
If you spit on the deck then your death warrant sign. 
If you spit overboard either gangway or starn 
You are sure of six dozen by way of no harm." 

But before this "fancy frigate" of the American navy could 
get to sea, there was much to be done. Captain Richard Derby 
of Salem had been selected to command her, but he was abroad 

235 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

in one of his own ships and could not return home in time to 
equip the frigate for active service. Therefore, Captain Edward 
Preble of the navy was offered the command, which he accepted 
and hastened to Salem to put his battery and stores aboard 
and recruit a crew. It is related that when Captain Preble 
saw the armament that had been prepared for his ship he found 
the gun carriages not at all to his liking. 

"Who built those gun carriages," he angrily demanded of 
Master Builder Briggs. 

"Deacon Gould," was the answer. 

" Send for Deacon Gould to meet me at the Sun tavern this 
evening," ordered Captain Preble. 

Deacon Gould made his appearance and found Captain 
Preble waiting with somewhat of irritation in his demeanor. 
The deacon was a man of the most dignified port and he asked : 

"What may be your will. Captain Preble .f*" 

"You do not know how to make gun carriages, sir," exclaimed 
the fighting sailor. 

"What's that you say, Captain Preble. What's that you 
say.'^" thundered Deacon Gould. "I knew how to make gun 
carriages before you were born, and if you say that word again 
I will take you across my knee and play Master Hacker* with 
you, sir." 

Both men were of a hair-trigger temper and a clash was 
prevented by friends who happened to be in the tavern. Cap- 
tain Preble proceeded to have the gun carriages cut down to 
suit him, however, as may be learned from the following entry 
in his sea journal kept on board the Essex: 

"26 12-pound cannon were taken on board for the main 
battery; mounted them and found the carriages all too high; 
dismounted the cannon and sent the carriages ashore to be 
altered." 

* Master Hacker was a Salem schoolmaster of that time. 
236 



The Buildi7ig of the Essex 



The battery of the Essex consisted of 26 12-pounders on the 
gun decks; 6 6-pounders on the quarter deck; 32 guns in all. 
During his first cruise at sea Captain Preble recommended to 
the Secretary of the Navy that 9-pounders replace the 6-pound 
guns on the quarterdeck which he thought strong enough to 
bear them, a tribute to honest construction by Master Builder 
Enos Briggs. 

The official receipt of the acceptance of the Essex in behalf 
of the Government of the United States which Captain Preble 
gave the Salem committee reads as follows: 

"The Committee for building a frigate in Salem for the 
United States having delivered to my charge the said frigate 
called the Essex, with her hull, masts, spars and rigging com- 
plete, and furnished her with one complete suit of sails, two 
bower cables and anchors, one stream cable and anchor, one 
hawser, and kedge anchor, one tow line, four boats and a full 
set of spare masts and spars except the lower masts and bowsprit, 
I have in behalf of the United States received the said frigate 
Essex and signed duplicate receipts for the same. 

"Edward Preble, Captain, U. S. N. 

"Salem, Dec. 17, 1799." 

This receipt was not given until Captain Preble had taken 
time to make a thorough examination of the vessel, for his 
first letter to the Secretary of the Navy concerning the Essex 
was written on November 17th, more than a month earlier 
than the foregoing document. He reported on this previous 
date: 

"Sir. I have the honor to inform you that I arrived here 
last evening and have taken charge of the Essex. She is now 
completely rigged, has all her ballast on board, and her stock 
of water will be nearly complete by to-morrow night. . . . 

237 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

I am much in want of officers to attend the ship, and the recruit- 
ing service. I shall be obliged to open a rendezvous to-morrow 
to recruit men sufficient to make the ship safe at her anchors in 
case of a storm. I presume the Essex can be got ready for sea 
in thirty days if my recruiting instructions arrive soon. The 
agent, Mr. Waters, and the Committee are disoosed to render 
me every assistance in their power. 

"Very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 

"Edward Preble, Capt. 

" To the Hon. Secretary of the Navy, etc., etc." 

In another letter with the foregoing address Captain Preble 
wrote: 

" I beg leave to recommend Mr. Rufus Low of Cape Ann for 
Sailing Master of the Essex. He has served as captain of a 
merchant ship for several years and has made several voyages 
to India and sustains a good reputation. His principal induce- 
ment for soliciting this appointment is the injuries he has 
sustained by the French." 

The crew of the Essex, officers and men, numbered two hun- 
dred and fifty when she went to sea. It was a ship's company 
of Americans of the English strain who had become native to 
the soil and cherished as hearty a hatred for the mother country 
as they did the most patriotic ardor for their new republic. 
There were only two "Macs" and one "O'" on the ship's 
muster rolls, and men and boys were almost without exception 
of seafaring New England stock. In a letter of instructions to 
Captain Preble, the Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddard, 
wrote of the proposed complement of the Essex: 

"Sixty able bodied seamen, seventy-three ordinary seamen, 
thirty boys, fifty marines including officers. Able seamen $17 
per month, ordinary seamen and boys $5 to $17." 

238 



The Building of the Essex 



Captain Preble was greatly pleased with the behavior of the 
frigate in her first "trying out" run from Salem to Newport. 
He wrote from sea to Joseph Waters: 

"The Essex is a good sea boat and sails remarkably fast. 
She went eleven miles per hour with topgallant sails set and 
within six points of the wind." 

He also wrote the Secretary of the Navy after leaving 
Newport : 

" I have the honor to acquaint you that the Essex in coming 
out of the harbor sailed much faster than the Congress, and is, 
I think, in every respect a fine frigate." 

Nor was this admiration limited to her own ofiicers, for from 
the Cape of Good Hope, on her first deep-water cruise. Captain 
Preble wrote home: 

" The Essex is much admired for the beauty of her construc- 
tion by the ofiicers of the British Navy." 

In company with the frigate Congress the Essex sailed in 
January, 1800, for Batavia to convoy home a fleet of Ameri- 
can merchantmen. Six days out the Congress was dismasted 
in a storm which the Essex weathered without damage and 
proceeded alone as the first American war vessel to double 
the Cape of Good Hope. Ten months later she reached the 
United States with her merchantmen. The Essex had not the 
good fortune to engage the enemy, for a treaty of peace with 
France was signed in February, 1801. 

Captain Preble left the ship because of ill health, and in com- 
mand of Captain Wm. Bainbridge, she joined the Mediter- 
ranean squadron of Commodore Richard Dale. She made 
two cruises in this service until 1805, and played a peaceful part 
on the naval list until the coming of the War of 1812. At that 
time the eighteen-gun ship Wasp was the only American war 
vessel on a foreign station. A small squadron was assembled 
at New York under Commodore Rodgers, comprising the 

239 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

President, Hornet and Essex. Captain David Porter had been 
given command of the Essex and he sailed with this squadron 
which was later reinforced by the ships assembled with the 
pennant of Commodore Decatur. The Essex took several 
prizes, and fought a fierce single-ship action with H. B. M. ship 
Alert of twenty guns and 100 men, which he captured. 

The immortal cruise of the Essex under David Porter began 
when he was ordered to meet Bainbridge's ships, the Constella- 
tion and Hornet in South American waters. Failing to find 
the squadron at the rendezvous in the South Atlantic, in April 
David Porter headed for Cape Horn and the Pacific in search 
of British commerce. Early in 1813 he was able to report: 

"I have completely broke up the British navigation in the 
Pacific; the vessels which had not been captured by me were 
laid up and dared not venture out. I have afforded the most 
ample protection to our own vessels which were on my arrival 
very numerous and unprotected. The valuable whale fishery 
there is entirely destroyed and the actual injury we have done 
them may be estimated at two and a half million dollars, inde- 
pendent of the vessels in search of me. 

"They have furnished me amply with sails, cordage, cables, 
anchors, provisions, medicines, and stores of every description; 
and the slops on board have furnished clothing for my seamen. 
I have in fact lived on the enemy since I have been in that 
sea, every prize having proved a well-found store ship for 
me." 

In letters from Valparaiso Captain Porter was informed that 
a British squadron commanded by Commodore James Hillyar 
was seeking him. This force comprised the frigate Phoebe of 
thirty-six guns, the Raccoon and Cherub, sloops of war, and a 
store ship of twenty guns. "My ship, as it may be supposed 
after being near a year at sea," wrote Captain Porter, " required 
some repairs to put her in a state to meet them; which I deter- 

240 



The Building of the Essex 



mined to do and to bring them to action if I could meet them 
on nearly equal terms." 

With this purpose in mind Captain Porter went in search of 
the British squadron. In his words: " I had done all the injury 
that could be done the British commerce in the Pacific, and 
still hoped to signalize my cruise by something more splendid 
before leaving that sea." 

"Agreeably to his expectation," as Captain Porter phrased it, 
the Phoebe appeared at Valparaiso shortly after the arrival of 
the Essex in that port. But instead of offering a duel on even 
terms between the two frigates, the British Commodore brought 
with him the Cherub sloop of war. These two British vessels 
had a combined force of eighty-one guns and 500 men, as com- 
pared with the thirty-six guns and fewer than 300 men of the 
Essex. "Both ships had picked crews," said Captain Porter, 
" and were sent into the Pacific in company with the Raccoon of 
32 guns and a store ship of 20 guns for the express purpose of 
seeking the Essex, and were prepared with flags bearing the 
motto, ' God and Country; British Sailors Best Rights; Traitors 
Offend Both.' This was intended as reply to my motto, 'Free 
Trade and Sailors' Rights,' under the erroneous impression 
that my crew were chiefly Englishmen, or to counteract its 
effect on their own crew ... In reply to their motto, I 
wrote at my mizzen: ' God and Our Country; Tyrants Offend 
Them.'" 

Alongside the Essex lay the Essex, Junior, an armed prize 
which carried twenty guns and sixty men. For six weeks the 
two American vessels lay in harbor while the British squadron 
cruised off shore to blockade them, "during which time, I 
endeavored to provoke a challenge," explained Captain Porter, 
"and frequently but ineffectually to bring the Phoebe alone to 
action, first with both my ships, and afterwards with my single 
ship with both crews on board. I was several times under 

241 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

way and ascertained that I had greatly the advantage in point 
of saiUng, and once succeeded in closing within gun shot of the 
Phoebe, and commenced a fire on her, when she ran down for 
the Cherub which was two miles and a half to leeward. This 
excited some surprise and expressions of indignation, as previous 
to my getting under way she hove to off the port, hoisted her 
motto flag and fired a gun to windward. Com. Hillyar seemed 
determined to avoid a contest with me on nearly equal terms 
and from his extreme prudence in keeping both his ships ever 
after constantly within hail of each other, there were no hopes 
of any advantages to my country from a long stay in port. I 
therefore determined to put to sea the first opportunity which 
should offer." 

On the 28th of March, 1813, the day after this determination 
was formed, the wind blew so hard from the southward that 
the Essex parted her port cable, and dragged her starboard 
anchor out to sea. Not a moment was to be lost in getting sail 
on the ship to save her from stranding. Captain Porter saw a 
chance of crowding out to windward of the Phoebe and Cherub, 
but his maintopmast was carried away by a heavy squall, and 
in his disabled condition he tried to regain the port. Letting 
go his anchor in a small bay, within pistol shot of a neutral 
shore, he made haste to repair damages. 

The Phoebe and Cherub bore down on the Essex, which was 
anchored in neutral water, their "motto flags," and union jacks 
flying from every masthead. The crippled Essex was made 
ready for action, and was attacked by both British ships at 
three o'clock in the afternoon. Describing the early part of the 
engagement Captain Porter reported to the Navy Department: 

" My ship had received many injuries, and several had been 
killed and wounded; but my brave ofiicers and men, notwith- 
standing the unfavorable circumstances under which we were 
brought to action and the powerful force opposed to us, were 

242 



The Building of the Essex 



in no way discouraged; and all appeared determined to defend 
their ship to the last extremity, and to die in preference to a 
shameful surrender. Our gaff with the ensign and the motto 
flag at the mizzen had been shot away, but 'Free Trade and 
Sailors' Rights ' continued to fly at the fore. Our ensign was 
replaced by another and to guard against a similar event an 
ensign was made fast in the mizzen rigging, and several jacks 
were hoisted in diflFerent parts of the ship." 

After hauling off to repair damages both the Phoebe and the 
Cherub stationed themselves on the starboard quarter of the 
Essex where her short carronades could not reach them and 
where her stern guns could not be brought to bear, for she was 
still at her forced anchorage. All the halyards of the Essex 
had been shot away, except those of the flying jib and with this 
sail hoisted the cable was cut and the stricken Yankee frigate 
staggered seaward with the intention of laying the Phoebe on 
board and fighting ^t close quarters. 

For only a short time was Porter able to use his guns to 
advantage, however, for the Cherub was able to haul off at a 
distance and pound the Essex while the Phoebe picked her own 
range and shot the helpless frigate to pieces with her long 
eighteen-pounders. In the words of David Porter which seem 
worthy of quotation at some length: 

"Many of my guns had been rendered useless by the enemy's 
shot, and many of them had their whole crews destroyed. We 
manned them again irom those which were disabled and one 
gun in particular was three times manned — fifteen men were 
slain in the course of the action. Finding that the enemy had 
it in his power to choose his distance, I now gave up all hope 
of closing with him and as the wind for the moment seemed to 
favour the design, I determined to run her on shore, land my 
men, and destroy her." 

But the wind shifted from landward and carried the Essex 

213 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

toward the Phoebe, " when we were again exposed to a dreadful 
raking fire. My ship was now totally unmanageable; yet as 
her head was toward the enemy and he to leeward of me, I still 
hoped to be able to board him." This attempt failed, and a 
little later, the ship having caught fire in several places, "the 
crew who had by this time become so weakened that they all 
declared to me the impossibility of making further resistance, 
and entreated me to surrender my ship to save the wounded, 
as all further attempt at opposition must prove ineffectual, 
almost every gun being disabled by the destruction of their 
crew. 

" I now sent for the officers of division to consult them and 
what was my surprise to find only acting Lieutenant Stephen 
Decatur M'Knight remaining ... I was informed that 
the cockpit, the steerage, the wardroom and the berth deck 
could contain no more wounded, that the wounded were killed 
while the surgeons were dressing them, and that if something 
was not speedily done to prevent it, the ship would soon sink 
from the number of shot holes in her bottom. On sending for 
the carpenter he informed me that all his crew had been killed 
or wounded . . . 

"The enemy from the smoothness of the water and the im- 
possibility of reaching him with our carronades and the little 
apprehension that was excited by our fire, which had now 
become much slackened, was enabled to take aim at us as at a 
target; his shot never missed our hull and my ship was cut up 
in a manner which was perhaps never before witnessed; in 
fine, I saw no hopes of saving her, and at 20 minutes after 
6 P. M. I gave the painful oi'der to strike the colours. Seventy- 
five men, including officers, were all that remained of my whole 
crew after the action capable of doing duty and many of them 
severely wounded, some of them whom have since died. The 
enemy still continued his fire, and my brave, though unfortu- 

244 



The Building of the Essex 



nate companions were still falling about me. I directed an 
opposite gun to be fired to show them we intended no farther 
resistance, but they did not desist; four men were killed at 
my side, and others at different parts of the ship. I now be- 
lieved he intended to show us no quarter, that it would be as 
well to die with my flag flying as struck, and was on the point 
of again hoisting it when about 10 minutes after hauling down 
the colours he ceased firing." 

Of a crew of 255 men who went into action, the Essex lost in 
killed, wounded, and missing no fewer than 153 officers, seamen 
and marines, including among the list of "slightly wounded" 
no less a name than that of " David G. Farragut, midshipman," 
who was destined to serve his country a full half century longer 
on the sea before his great chance should come to him on the 
quarterdeck of the Hartford in the Civil War. 

Captain David Porter had been overmatched, fighting his 
crippled ship against hopeless odds until his decks were such 
an appalling scene of slaughter as has been recorded of few 
naval actions in history. But the Salem-built frigate Essex 
had fulfilled her destiny in a manner to make her nation proud 
unto this day of the men who sailed and fought her in the harbor 
of Valparaiso, many thousand miles from the New England ship- 
yard where a patriotic town of seafarers had united with one 
common purpose to serve their country as best they could. 

There was grief and indignation beyond words when the 
tidings reached Salem that the Essex had been taken, and 
bitter wrath against England was kindled by the conviction, 
right or wrong, that Commodore Hillyar had not played the 
part of an honorable foe in pitting both his fighting ships against 
the Yankee frigate. This impression was confirmed by that 
part of Captain Porter's official report which read: 

"We have been unfortunate but not disgraced — the defence 
of the Essex had not been less honourable to her officers and 

245 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

crew than the capture of an equal force; and I now consider 
my situation less unpleasant than that of Com. Hillyar, who 
in violation of every principle of honour and generosity, and 
regardless of the rights of nations, attacked the Essex in her 
crippled state within pistol shot of a neutral shore, when for 
six weeks I had daily offered him fair and honourable combat 
on terms greatly to his advantage. The blood of the slain 
must rest on his head; and he has yet to reconcile his conduct 
to heaven, to his conscience, and to the world." 

In a later letter to the Secretary of the Navy Captain Porter 
added these charges: 

" Sir: There are some facts relating to our enemy and although 
not connected with the action, serve to shew his perfidy and 
should be known. 

" On Com. Hillyar 's arrival at Valparaiso he ran the Phoebe 
close alongside the Essex, and inquired politely after my health, 
observing that his ship was cleared for action and his men pre- 
pared for boarding. I observed: 'Sir, if you by any accident 
get on board of me, I assure you that great confusion will take 
place; I am prepared to receive you and shall act only on the 
defensive.' He observed coolly and indifferently. 'Oh, sir, I 
have no such intention'; at this instant his ship took aback of 
my starboard boAv, her yards nearly locking with those of the 
Essex, and in an instant my crew was ready to spring on her 
decks. 

" Com. Hillyar exclaimed in great agitation : ' I had no inten- 
tion of coming so near you; I am sorry I came so near you.' 
His ship fell off with her jib-boom over my stern; her bows 
exposed to my broadside, her stern to the stern fire of the 
Essex, Junior, her crew in the greatest confusion, and in fifteen 
minutes I could have taken or destroyed her. After he had 
brought his ship to anchor. Com. Hillyar and Capt. Tucker of 
the Cherub visited me on shore; when I asked him if he intended 

246 



The Building of the Essex 



to respect the neutrality of the port: 'Sir,' said he, 'you have 
paid such respect to the neutrahty of this port that I feel myself 
bound in honour, to do the same. ' " 

The behavior of Commander Hillyar after the action was most 
humane and courteous, and the lapse of time has sufficed to 
dispel somewhat of the bitterness of the American view-point 
toward him. If he was not as chivalrous as his Yankee foeman 
believed to be demanded of the circumstances, he did his stern 
duty in destroying the Essex with as great advantage to himself 
as possible. Captain Porter had shown no mercy toward 
English shipping, and he was a menace to the British commerce, 
which must be put out of the way. The inflamed spirit of the 
American people at that time, however, was illustrated in a 
"broadside," or printed ballad displayed on the streets of 
Salem. This fiery document was entitled: 

"Capture of the Essex 

" Free Trade and Sailors' Rights. 

" Or, the In-glorious victoiy of the British with the Phoebe, 
Frigate, of 36 guns and 320 men and the Cherub, sloop of war, 
with 28 guns, and 180 men over the unfortunate Essex, Frigate of 
32 guns and 255 men. Commanded by Captain David Porter. 
An action fought two hours and 57 minutes against a double 
complement of Men and force, by an enterprising and veteran 
Crew of Yankees." 

The closing verses of this superheated ballad were: 

"The Essex sorely rak'd and gall'd; 
While able to defend her 
The Essex Creic are not appall'd 
They Die but dont Surrender! 
They fearless Fight, and Fearless Die! 
And now the scene is over; 

247 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

: I 

For Britain, Nought but Powers on high 
Their Damning Sins can Cover. 
They Murder and refuse to save! 
With Mahce Most infernal! ! 
Rest, England's Glory in the Grave, 
'Tis Infamy — Eternal! ! ! 

Brave Hull and Law^rence fought your Tars 
With honorable dealings; 
For great as Jove and brave as Mars 
Are hearts of Humane Feelings 
Our tears are render 'd to the brave, 
Our hearts' applause is given; 
Their Names in Mem'ry we engrave, 
Their spirits rest in Heaven; 
Paroled see Porter and his crew 
In the Essex Junior coasting; 
They home return — hearts brave and true. 
And scorn the Britons boasting- 
Arrived — by all aroimd belov'd, 
With welcome shouts and chanting, 
Brave Tars — all valiant and approv'd. 
Be such Tars never Wanting. 
Should Britain's Sacrilegious band 
Yet tell her in her native land 
Her Deeds are like her Daring, 
That should she not with Wisdom haste 
Her miscreant Crimes undoing. 
Her Crown, Wealth, Empire, all must waste 
And sink in common Ruin." 

One of the seamen of the Essex returned to his home at the 
end of the cruise and told these incidents of his shipmates as 
they have been preserved in the traditions of the town : 

" John Ripley after losing his leg said : ' Farewell, boys, I 
can be of no use to you,' and flung himself overboard out of the 
bow port. 

" John Alvinson received an eighteen-pound ball through the 
body; in the agony of death he exclaimed: 'Never mind, ship- 
mates. I die in defence of 'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights' 
and expired with the word ' Rights ' quivering on his lips. 

248 



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of the Essex 



The Building of the Essex 



" James Anderson had his left leg shot off and died encourag- 
ing his comrades to fight bravely in defence of liberty. After 
the engagement Benjamin Hazen, having dressed himself in a 
clean shirt and jerkin, told what messmates of his that were 
left that he could never submit to be taken as a prisoner by the 
English and leaped into the sea where he was drowned." 



249 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE FIRST AMERICAN VOYAGERS TO JAPAN 

(1799-1801) 

IT it commonly assumed that until the memorable visit of 
Commodore Perry's squadron in 1853 shattered the 
ancient isolation of Japan, no American ship had ever 
been permitted to trade or tarry in a port of that nation. More 
than half a century, however, before the tenacious diplomacy 
of Matthew C. Perry had wrested a treaty "of friendship and 
commerce," at least three Yankee vessels had carried cargoes 
to and from Nagasaki. 

It was in 1799 that the ship Franklin, owned in Boston and 
commanded by Captain James Devereux of Salem, won the 
historical distinction of being the first American vessel to find 
a friendly greeting in a harbor of Japan. In 1800, the Boston 
ship Massachusetts sailed to Nagasaki on a like errand, and 
her captain's clerk, William Cleveland of Salem, kept a detailed 
journal of this unusual voyage, which records, to a considerable 
extent, duplicate the following very interesting narratives 
of the adventures of the Franklin, and of the Salem ship Margaret 
which went from Batavia to Nagasaki in 1801. Aboard the 
Margaret, Captain S. G. Derby, was a crew of Salem men, 
among them George Cleveland, captain's clerk, brother of 
William Cleveland, who filled a similar berth in the Massa- 
chusetts and also kept a journal. 

In the logs and journals of these three voyages, as written 
by three seafarers of Salem more than a century ago, has been 
preserved a wealth of adventure, incident and description which 

250 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

to-day sound as archaic as a chapter of the history of the Middle 
Ages in Europe. Excepting a handful of Dutch traders, these 
three ships visited a land as strange and unknown to the outside 
world as was the heart of Thibet a dozen years ago. They 
sailed to the Orient as pioneers of American commerce, and 
while at Batavia seeking cargo were chartered by the Dutch 
East India Company for the annual voyage to Japan. 

When the ship Franklin set sail from Batavia for Nagasaki, in 
1799, only the Dutch were permitted to hold foreign intercourse 
with the land of the Shoguns and the Samurai. They had main- 
tained their singular commercial monopoly for two centuries 
at a price which was measured in the deepest degradation of 
national and individual dignity and self-respect. The few 
Dutch merchants suffered to reside in Japan were little better 
off than prisoners, restricted to a small island in Nagasaki 
harbor, leaving it only once in four years when the Resident, or 
chief agent, journeyed to Yeddo to offer gifts and obeisance to 
the Shogun. At this audience, which took place in the " Hall 
of a Hundred Mats," the Dutch Resident "crept forward on 
his hands and feet, and falling on his knees bowed his head 
to the ground and retired again in absolute silence, crawling 
exactly like a crab." To add insult to injury, the Shogun 
usually sat hidden behind a curtain. 

After this exhibition the envoys were led further into the 
palace and ordered to amuse the Court. " Now we had to rise 
and walk to and fro, now to exchange compliments with each 
other," wrote one of them, "then to dance, jump, represent a 
drunken man, speak broken Japanese, paint, read Dutch, 
German, sing, put on our cloaks and throw them off again, 
etc., I, for my part, singing a German love ditty." 

Of their life on the islet of Dezima, where the little colony 
of Dutch traders was guarded and confined, this same chronicler, 
Kaempfer, remarks: 

251 



I 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" In this service we have to put up with many insulting regula- 
tions at the hands of these proud heathens. We may not keep 
Sundays or fast days, or allow our spiritual hymns or prayers 
to be heard ; never mention the name of Christ, nor carry with 
us any representation of the Cross or any external sign of 
Christianity. Besides these things we have to submit to many 
other insulting imputations which are always painful to a noble 
heart. The reason which impels the Dutch to bear all these 
sufferings so patiently is simply the love of gain." 

In return for these humiliations the Dutch East India Com- 
pany was permitted to send one or two ships a year from Batavia 
to Japan and to export a cargo of copper, silk, gold, camphor, 
porcelain and bronze which returned immense profits. 

This curious system of commerce was in operation when the 
ship Franklin cleared from Boston for Batavia in 1798. His 
owner's letter of instructions ordered Captain Devereux to load 
Java coffee in bulk and to return with all possible expedition. 
As was customary, the ship's company was given a share in the 
profits of the voyage, as defined in a letter to the captain : 

"We allow your first and second officers two and one-half 
tons privilege, and one ton to your third mate, your sailors will 
be allowed to bring their adventures in their chests and not 
otherwise. Your own privilege will be five per cent, of the 
whole amount which the ship may bring and 'tis our orders 
that she be completely filled." 

When Captain Devereux arrived at Batavia in April, 1799, 
he learned that the Dutch East India Company was in need 
of a ship to make one of the annual voyages to Japan. The 
Salem shipmaster and his supercargo perceived that a large 
extra profit could be gleaned in such a venture as this, after 
which the ship might return for her cargo of coffee and go 
home to Boston as planned. 

This Batavia charter was an attractive adventure which 

252 



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I'aoe trom tlir Idi,^ of tlie Marguni, tlesfril)inir her arrival at Xa<;asaki and tlie 
prodij^ioiis amount of saiiitino; re(]iiire(l 




The good shi^j Franldiii 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

promised to fatten both the owner's returns and the "privi- 
leges" of the ship's company, and after considerable prehminary 
skirmishing between the hard-headed Dutchmen and the keen- 
witted Yankee seafarers, an agreement was reached which has 
been preserved in the log of the Franklin. It is a valuable frag- 
ment of history in itself, for it recites the elaborate formalities 
and restrictions imposed upon foreign visitors by the Japanese 
of a century and more ago. The document is entitled: 

"The Ship Franklin's Charter Party for a Voyage from 
Batavia to Japan, June the 16th, 1799." 

It begins as follows : 

"We, the undersigned, Johannes Siberg, Commissary Gen- 
eral, etc., etc., on the one part, and Walter Burling, supercargo 
of the American ship Franklin at present at anchor in this 
Road, of the burthen of 200 tons, commanded by James Dever- 
eux, on the other part, do Declare and Certify to have agreed 
with respect to the Charter of said ship as follows." 

It is then stipulated in the articles that the Franklin shall 
carry to Japan a cargo of cloves in sacks, cotton yarns, pieces 
of chintz, sugar, tin, black pepper, sapan-wood, elephants' 
teeth, and mummie, and supplies for the Company's agents in 
Nagasaki. The vessel is to bring back to Batavia a cargo of 
copper, camphor, boxes and boards. Her charter price or 
freight is to be paid Captain Devereux in coffee, sugar, black 
pepper, cloves, indigo, tin, cinnamon and nutmegs. 

After no fewer than ten numbered articles of instruction it is 
provided that "the Capt., James Devereux, as soon as the 
cargo shall be on board and his ship's company in a proper 
situation, shall proceed with his said ship to the port of her 
destination and there being discharged and reloaded shall 
continue his voyage with the utmost diligence toward this 
metropolis, and that he shall not under any pretext whatever, 
approach or enter into any other port, either on his passage to 

253 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Japan or on his return, unless he is forced by urgent necessity 
which he must justify on his return in a satisfactory manner." 

It would seem that not even the Dutch were always certain 
of a hospitable reception at the hands of the haughty Japanese, 
for in " article 13th " it is stated that " if by any unforeseen cir- 
cumstances the ship should not be allowed to enter the port of 
Japan, and by that reason the Captain should be obliged to 
return with the cargo he took from here, then after his arrival 
here, and having discharged the cargo he took away, the freighter 
shall pay the freight agreed upon, of thirty thousand piasters 
in produce as mentioned in article 4th." 

The thrifty Dutch inserted an article to read : 

"If any of the ship's company should be sick at Japan they 
may be received in the Hospital on condition that they shall be 
taken on board the ship at the time of her departure, and the 
expense incurred will be for account of the letter (the ship)." 

Having endeavored to protect themselves against every 
chance of loss or delay in a document well nigh as long as the 
Declaration of Independence, the officials in Batavia drew up 
the following letter: 

"Instructions from the Dutch East India Company for 
Captain James Devereux on his arrival at Japan : 

" When you get to the latitude of 26 or 27, it will be necessary 
to have everything in readiness to comply with the ceremonies 
which the Japanese are accustomed to see performed by the 
ships of the Company. 

" 1st. You will have all your colors in order to dress the 
ship on her entrance into port. 

" 2nd. There must be a table prepared on the quarterdeck 
which must be covered with a piece of cloth and two cushions 
for the officers to sit upon when they come on board. 

"3rd. It is indispensably necessary to have a list of all the 
people on board, passengers and officers, their stations and age. 

254 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

"4th. All the books of the people and officers, particularly 
religious books must be put into a cask and headed up; the 
officers from the shore will put their seals upon the cask and 
take it on shore, and on the departure of the ship will bring it 
on board without having opened it. 

"Before your arrival at Japan you must make the people 
deliver you their money and keep it until your departure; this 
will not be attended with inconvenience as at Japan nothing 
is bought for cash, but they may change their specie for cam- 
bang money, and then make their trade, but this must be done 
by the Captain. 

"6th. When you are in sight of Japan, you must hoist a 
Dutch pendant and ensign in their proper places as if you 
were a Dutch ship. 

"7th. When the Cavalles are on your starboard hand and 
the Island of Japan on your larboard you must salute the 
guard on the Cavalles with nine guns. 

" 8th. After that you pass on the larboard side of Papenburg 
and salute with nine guns. 

"9tli. You then pass the guards of the Emperor on the 
starboard and larboard nearly at the same time, and salute them 
with 7 or 9 guns, the first all starboard guns, the second all 
larboard. 

" 10th. You then advance into the Road of Nangazacky 
(Nagasaki), and after anchoring salute with 13 guns. 

"11th. When you enter the Cavalles, the Commissaries of 
the Chief will come on board and you must salute them with 
9 guns; at the same time, if it is practicable, hoist some colors 
to the yards as a compliment to them; it is immaterial what 
colors you dress your ship with except Spanish or Portuguese 
— it is, however, necessary to recollect that the Dutch colors 
must be always in their proper place as if the ship was of that 
nation. 

255 



The Shijjs and Sailors of Old Salem 

" 12th. When the Commissaries return on shore, you must 
salute them with nine guns. 

" 13th. You must be very particular in letting the boats 
which are around the ship know when you are going to fire 
as if you were to hurt any of them the consequences would be 
very important. 

" 14th. After you have anchored and saluted the harbor, 
the officers examine the list of your people and compare them 
with the number on board. After having received them those 
who wish it can go on shore, but before the Japanese land, all 
the arms and ammunition must be sent on shore, and it will 
be proper that everything of the kind should be landed, as they 
search the ship after she is unloaded. On your departure they 
will return it all on board. If there should by any mistake be 
any powder or firearms left on board, you must be very careful 
that not so much as a pistol be fired until the return of the 
ammunition which was landed. 

" The agents of the Company will instruct you respecting the 
other ceremonies to be observed." 

Captain Devereux's log records that he burned the prodigious 
amount of powder required and successfully steered a course 
through the other complex ceremonies, nautical and commercial, 
without ruffling Japanese dignity in any way. The Franklin 
lay in Nagasaki harbor for almost four months after which she 
returned to Batavia, to the satisfaction of the East India Com- 
pany. Thence she sailed for Boston with so large a cargo of 
coffee, sugar and spices that it overflowed the hold and filled 
the after cabin. The captain and officers berthed in a make- 
shift "coach-house" knocked together on deck, but made no 
complaint as their several "adventures" had been richly in- 
creased by the voyage and trading with the Japanese. 

In more than one stout old Salem mansion are treasured 
souvenirs of the voyage of the Franklin. According to a 

25Q 



The First American Voyagers to Japati 



memorandum of "a sale of sundries received by ship Franklin 
from Japan, Captain Devereux brought home as part of his 
adventure, "cabinets, tea trays, boxes of birds, waiters, boxes 
of fans, nests of pans, camphor wood, mats, kuspidors, together 
with inlaid tables and carved screens." 

In 1801, or two years later, the Margaret of Salem lay in 
Nagasaki as a chartered trader. George Cleveland, of a 
famous family of Salem mariners, who sailed as the captain's 
clerk, kept the log and journal of this voyage, and his narrative 
contains much of interest concerning the early relations between 
the Japanese and the people of other countries. 

"In the autumn of 1800," he wrote soon after his return, 
"the ship Margaret, built by Mr. Becket of this town, and 
owned by the late Col. Benj. Pickman, John Derby, Esq., and 
Captain Samuel Derby who was to command her, was launched. 
On the 25th November we left Salem harbor bound for the 
East Indies, and probably a finer, a better-fitted or better- 
manned ship never left this port before. We carried 6 guns and 
20 men ; most of the crew were fine young men in the bloom of 
youth. I will enumerate those who lived many years after, 
namely: S. G. Derby, captain; Thomas West, second mate; 
L. Stetson, carpenter; Samuel Ray, Joseph Preston, Israel 
Phippen, Anthony D. Caulfield and P. Dwyer, Thatcher and 
myself. 

" We soon found on leaving port what a fast sailing ship the 
Margaret was. When we were out eleven days we fell in with 
the barque Two Brothers, Captain John Holman, who had left 
Salem some days before us, bound for Leghorn. We made 
him ahead in the afternoon steering the same course we were, 
and before night we were up alongside and spoke him. The 
next day we fell in with a fleet of merchantmen, convoyed by a 
frigate which was under very short sail, and kept all snug until 
she had got into our wake, when she set sail in chase, but we 

257 



The Shij)s and Sailors of Old Salem 

distanced her so much that in a very short time she gave it up 
and took in her sails and rejoined the fleet. 

"On the 4th of February, 1801, we anchored in Table Bay, 
Cape of Good Hope. We saluted the Admiral's flag, which 
civility was returned. On the 10th February we left, bound to 
Sumatra, and found it difficult to get to the westward as winds 
and currents were against us. After a tedious passage we 
anchored in Bencoolen Roads, 136 days from Salem, including 
our stoppage at the Cape. As nothing could be done to advan- 
tage here we proceeded to Batavia and arrived there on the 
25th of April. 

" Captain Derby soon made a bargain with the agents of the 
East India Company to take the annual freights to and from 
Japan, and as it was the custom from time immemorial that 
the Japan ship should sail on a certain day, and as that day 
was some time ahead, it was necessary to find some employment 
for the vessel previously, as it was dangerous to the health of 
crews to be lying any time in Batavia Roads. The Company 
offered Captain Derby a freight of coffee from a port a short 
distance to the eastward, which he readily accepted. This 
wore away twelve or fourteen days of the time, and added to 
the profits of the voyage. 

" The cargo for Japan consisted of a great variety of articles, 
such as the Dutch had been in the habit of shipping for nearly 
two centuries. It was composed of sugar, spices, sapan wood, 
sandal wood, rattans, glassware, cloths, medicines, and various 
other articles, and as everything was to be done according to a 
prescribed rule, and as we were not to sail until a certain day 
in June, we had time enough to do all things right as regards 
receiving and stowing the cargo. 

"We weighed anchor at 8 A.M., on the 20th June, 1801. 
We had as passenger a young Dutclmaan who was going out 
as clerk to the establishment in Japan. On the morning of 

258 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

July 16th, we made the islands of Casique and St. Clara which 
are near the harbor of Nangasacca (Nagasaki), our destined 
port. On the 18th two fishing boats came alongside and 
supplied us with fish. On Sunday, 19th, we were so near that 
we hoisted twenty different colors and in the afternoon entered 
the harbour of Nangasacca. We had much ceremony to go 
through in entering this port, which is considered indispensable, 
among other things to fire several salutes. 

" The day after our arrival I landed on the Island of Decima,* 
a little island connected with the city of Nangasacca by a bridge. 
It is walled all round and here the Dutch residents are obliged 
to pass their lives. Provisions are very dear and everything had 
to be passed through the hands of a compradore and he, no 
doubt, put upon them a large profit. We had excellent sweet 
potatoes and mackerel, and sometimes pork and fowls, and the 
bread was as good as any country could produce. 

"Captain Derby, Mr. West and myself carried several 
articles of merchandise on our own account. This has always 
been allowed to the Dutch captains, but then the sale of these 
articles must be made by the Japanese government. All these 
articles were landed on the island, opened and displayed in a 
warehouse and on certain days the (Japanese) merchants were 
allowed to go on the Island to examine them. Nothing could 
exceed the minuteness with which they examined everything. 
Among other articles we had a quantity of tumblers and wine 
glasses; these they measured with the greatest care, running 
their fingers over every part to determine what irregularities 
there were on the surface, and then holding each piece up to 
the light to see the colour. They also made drawings of the 
different description of pieces. 

* The name of this island is spelled Decima, Disma, Deshima, by the sailor 
diarists. In the official records of Commodore Perry's voyage it is spelled 
Dezima. 

259 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" After this investigation they marked on their memorandums 
the number of the lot and the results of their investigations. 
Everything we had to sell went through a similar ordeal so that 
to us, who were lookers on and owners of the property, nothing 
could be more tedious. After the goods had been sufficiently 
examined, a day was appointed for a sale, in the city of Nan- 
gasacca, and was conducted with the greatest fairness. Captain 
Derby and myself went into the city attended by the requisite 
number of officers, and proceeded to what the Dutch call 
the Geltchamber where we found one or more of the upper 
Banyoses* seated in their usual state, and a general attendance 
of merchants. We were placed where we could see all that 
was going on and received such explanations as were requisite 
to an understanding of the whole business. The goods being 
all disposed of, we were escorted back to the Island with much 
formality, not however, until a day had been appointed by 
the great men for the delivery of the goods. 

" Delivering these adventures was a great affair, and it was 
a number of days before the whole was taken away. No person 
in this country (who has not traded with people who have so 
little intercourse with the world) can have an idea of the trouble 
we had in delivering this little invoice which would not have 
been an hour's work in Salem. We finally, after a great trial 
of our patience, finished delivering goods, and articles that did 
not come up to the pattern were taken at diminished prices. 

"On the 20th September, 1801, we went into the city of 
Nangasacca. The first place we went to was Facquia's, an 
eminent stuff merchant. Here we were received with great 
politeness and entertained in such a manner as we little expected. 
We had set before us for a repast, pork, fowls, eggs, boiled fish, 
sweetmeats, cakes, various kinds of fruit, sakey and tea. The 
lady of the house was introduced, who drank tea with each of 
* Magistrates or police officers. 
260 



The First American Voyagers to Jajmn 

us as is the custom of Japan. She appeared to be a modest 
woman. 

" The place we next visited was a temple to which we ascended 
by at least two hundred stone steps. We saw nothing very re- 
markable in this building excepting its size, which was very 
large, though in fact we were only admitted to an outer apart- 
ment as there appeared to be religious ceremonies going on 
within. Adjoining this was the burying-ground. In this 
ground was the tomb of one of their Governors, which was 
made of stone and very beautifully wrought. We next visited 
another temple also on the side of a hill and built of stone. The 
inside presented a great degree of neatness. It consisted of a 
great many apartments, in some of which were images; in one, 
a kind of altar, was a lamp which was continually burning. In 
another were several long pieces of boards, painted black with 
an inscription to the memory of some deceased Emperor or 
Governor. Before each of these was a cup of tea which they 
informed us was renewed every day. There were other apart- 
ments which the priests probably occupied, as there were many 
of them passing in and out. They are dressed like the other 
Japanese, excepting that their outside garments were all black 
and their heads shaved all over. 

" From this we went to the glass house which was on a small 
scale, thence to a lacquer merchants where we were entertained 
with great hospitality. Thence we went to a tea-house or hotel 
where we dined. After dinner we were entertained with various 
feats of dancing and tumbling. Toward dark we returned to 
the Island and so much was the crowd in the streets to see us 
pass that it was with difficulty that we could get along. The 
number of children we saw was truly astonishing. The streets of 
the city are narrow and inconvenient to walk in as they are cov- 
ered with loose stones as large as paving stones. At short dis- 
tances vou have to go up or down flights of stone steps. At the 

261 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

end of every street is a gate which is locked at night. They have 
no kinds of carriages, for it would be impossible to use them in 
such streets. 

" The houses are one or two stories, built of wood ; the exter- 
ior appearance is mean, but within they are very clean and neat. 
The floors are covered with mats, and it is considered a piece 
of ill manners to tread on them without first taking off the 
shoes. The Japanese dress much alike. That of the man 
consists first of a loose gown which comes down as low as the 
ankles; over this is worn a kind of petticoat which comes as low 
as the other; these are made of silk or cotton. The petticoat 
does not go higher than the hips. Over the shoulders they wear 
a shawl, generally of black crape, and around the waist a band 
of silk or cotton. Through this band the officers of the govern- 
ment put their swords, and they are the only persons allowed 
to carry these instruments. 

"The middle part of the head is all shaved, the remaining 
hair which is left on each side and behind, is then combed to- 
gether and made very stiff with gum mixed with oil, and then 
turned up on top of the head in a little club almost as large as 
a man's thumb. This is the universal fashion with rich and 
poor, excepting the priests. 

"The poorer classes do not wear the silk petticoat and the 
coolies and other laborers at the time we were there, threw all 
their clothing off excepting a cloth around their middle when 
at work. The dress of the woman is the long gown with large 
sleeves, and is very like that of the men. They suffer the hair 
to grow long, which is made stiff with gum and oil and then is 
turned up on top of the head where it is secured with various 
turtle-shell ornaments. 

"The Japanese observed one fast when we were there. It 
was in remembrance of the dead. The ceremonies were princi- 
pally in the night. The first of which was devoted to feasting, 

262 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

at which they fancy their departed friends to be present ; the 
second and third nights the graves which are hghted with paper 
lamps and situated on the side of a hill make a brilliant appear- 
ance. On the fourth night at 3 o'clock the lamps are all brought 
down to the water and put into small straw barques with paper 
sails, made for the occasion, and after putting in rice, fruit, 
etc., they are set afloat. This exhibition is very fine. On the 
death of their parents they abstain from flesh and fish forty- 
nine days and on the anniversary they keep the same fast, but 
do not do it for any other relations. 

" As the time was approaching for our departure we began to 
receive our returns from the interior brought many hundred 
miles. These consisted of the most beautiful lacquered ware, 
such as waiters, writing desks, tea-caddies, knife boxes, tables, 
etc. These were packed in boxes so neat that in any other 
country they would be considered cabinet work. We also re- 
ceived a great variety of porcelain, and house brooms of superior 
quality. The East India Company's cargo had been loading 
some time previous. 

"The Company's ships have been obliged to take their de- 
parture from the anchorage opposite Nangasacca on a certain 
day to the lower roads, no matter whether it blew high or low, 
fair or foul, even if a gale, and a thousand boats should be re- 
quired to tow them down. We of course had to do as our 
predecessors had done. Early in November we went to this 
anchorage and remained a few days when we sailed for Batavia 
where we arrived safely after a passage of one month." 

Thus did one of the first Americans that ever invaded Japan 
with a note-book record his random impressions. He and his 
shipmates saw the old Japan of a feudal age, generations before 
the jinrickshaw and the Cook's tourist swarmed in the streets of 
Nagasaki. Japanese customs have been overturned since then. 
The men no longer wear their hair "turned up on top of the 

263 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

head in a little club," but have succumbed to the scissors and 
the cropped thatch of the European. In the modern Japan, 
however, which builds her own battleships and railroads, there 
still survives the imaginative sentiment that sets afloat the 
"little straw barques with paper sails," illumined with "paper 
lamps" freighting offerings to the memories and spirits of the 
dead. The twentieth century tourist on the deck of a Pacific 
liner in the Inland Sea may sight these fragile argosies drift- 
ing like butterflies to unknown ports, just as young George 
Cleveland watched them in Nagasaki harbor. 

The Yankee seamen were more cordially received than other 
and later visitors. Six years after the voyage of the Margaret 
the English sloop-of-war Phaeton appeared off the coast of 
Nagasaki. It happened that the inhabitants of that city had 
been expecting the arrival of one of the Dutch vessels from Ba- 
tavia, and were delighted when a ship was signaled from the 
harbor entrance. When the mistake was discovered the city 
and surrounding country were thrown into great excitement. 
Troops were called out to repel the enemy, who disappeared 
after taking fresh water aboard. As a tragic result of the inci- 
dent the Governor of Nagasaki and five military commanders 
who had quite upset the province during this false alarm, com- 
mitted suicide in the most dignified manner as the only way 
of recovering their self-respect. 

Again in 1811, the Russian sloop-of-war Diana lay off the Bay 
of Kunashiri to fill her water casks. Cannon shot from a neigh- 
boring fort and the hasty arrival of troops were followed by a 
series of protracted explanations between ship and shore, after 
which the commander and five of his crew were invited to a con- 
ference. First they were entertained with tea and saki and later 
made prisoners and led in chains to Hakodate. After some de- 
lay they were released and put on board the Diana to continue 
the cruise without apology of any kind from the Japanese. 

264 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

The Salem ship-masters, under the Dutch flag, were fortunate 
enough to be welcomed when the French, Russian and English 
were driven from the coasts of Japan as foemen and barbarians. 
They were the first and last Americans to trade with the Jap- 
anese nation until after Perry had emphasized his friendly mes- 
sages with the silent yet eloquent guns of the Susquehanna, 
Mississippi, Saratoga and Plymouth. 

The Margaret, "than which a finer, better fitted or better 
manned ship never left the port of Salem," deserved to win 
from the seas whose distant reaches she furrowed, a kindlier 
fate than that which overtook her only eight years after her 
famous voyage to Japan. Her end was so rarely tragic that it 
looms large, even now, in the moving annals of notable ship- 
wrecks. There exists a rare pamphlet, the title page of which, 
framed in a heavy border of black, reads as follows : 

" Some Particulars of the Melancholy Shipwreck of the 

Margaret, William Fairfield, Master, on her 

Passage from Naples to Salem. 

Having on board Forty-six Souls. 

To which is Added a Short Occasional Sermon 

and a Hymn 

Printed for the Author 1810." 

The little pamphlet, frayed and yellow, makes no pretence 
of literary treatment. It relates events with the bald brevity of 
a ship's log, as if the writer had perceived the futility of trying 
to picture scenes that were wholly beyond the power of words. 
The Margaret left Naples on the 10th of April, 1810, with a 
crew of fifteen, and thirty-one passengers. These latter were 
the captains, mates or seamen of American vessels which had 
been confiscated by Napoleon's orders in the harbors of the 
Mediterranean. 

265 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Aboard the Margaret were masters and men from Salem and 
Beverly, Boston and Baltimore, all of them prime American 
sailors of the old breed, shorn of all they possessed except 
their lives, which most of them were doomed to lose while 
homeward bound as passengers. "They passed the Gut of 
Gibralter the 22nd of April," says the pamphleteer, " — nothing 
of importance occurred until Sunday the 20th of May, when 
about meridian, in distress of weather, the ship was hove on her 
beam ends and totally disabled. Every person on board being 
on deck reached either the bottom or side of the ship and held 
on, the sea making a continual breach over her. During this 
time their boats were suffering much damage, being amongst 
the wreck of spars; they were with great difficulty enabled to 
obtain the long-boat, which by driving too the butts, and filling 
the largest holes with canvas, rendered it possible for them to 
keep her above water by continual bailing, still keeping her 
under the lee of the ship. It was now about 7 o'clock in the 
evening, the boat being hauled near the ship for the purpose of 
getting canvass, oakum, etc., to stop the leak, as many men 
as could reach the long boat jumped into her, and when finding 
the boat would again be sunk if they remained near the ship 
they were obliged to veer her to the leeward of the ship about 
15 or 20 fathoms. They had not lain there long before one man 
from the ship jumped into the sea and swam for the boat, which 
he reached and was taken in. But finding at the same time 
that all were determined to pursue the same course they were 
obliged to veer the boat still further from the ship. 

"They remained in this situation all night. The morning 
following was moderate and the sea tolerable smooth, at which 
time the people on the wreck were about half of them on the 
taff rail and the remainder on the bowsprit and windlass, every 
other part being under water. And they kept continually en- 
treating to be let come into the boat. At this time casks of 

266 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

brandy and other articles of the cargo were drifting among the 
spars, etc., from amongst which they picked up a mizzen top 
gallant sail, 2 spars, 5 oars, 1 cask of Oil, 1 (drowned) pig, 1 
goat, 1 bag of bread, and they hove from the wreck a gallon keg 
of brandy. They then fixed a sail for the boat from the mizzen 
top gallant sail. 

"It was now about eleven o'clock when the people on the 
wreck had secured 2 quadrants, 2 compasses, 1 hhd. of water, 
bread, flour and plenty of provisions, as they frequently in- 
formed those in the boat, but would not spare any to them 
unless they consented to come alongside the ship, which they 
refused to do fearing their anxiety for life would induce them to 
crowd in and again sink the boat. One of them jumped into the 
sea and made for the small boat which he reached, but finding 
they would not take him in, he returned to the wreck. 

"At about meridian, finding they were determined to come 
from the wreck to the long boat, they cut the rope which held 
them to the wreck. The wind being to the southward and 
westward and moderate, they made their course as near as pos- 
sible for the islands of Corvo or Flores, having two men con- 
tinually employed in bailing the boat. In this situation they 
proceeded by the best of their judgment (having neither com- 
pass nor quadrant) for five days until they fell in with the brig 
Poacher of Boston, Captain Dunn from Alicant, who took them 
on board, treated them with every attention, and landed them 
in their native land on the 19th of June. 

" When the long boat left the wreck there remained on board 
31 souls. They immediately made preparations for their re- 
maining days by securing on a stage they had erected for that 
purpose, all the necessaries of life they could obtain from the 
wreck. For the first week, they had a plenty of salt meat, pork, 
hams, flour, water, etc. They also caught a turtle and having 
found a tinder box in a chest they kindled a fire in the ship's 

267 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

bell and cooked it, making a soup which afforded them a warm 
dinner, and the only one they were able to cook. 

"They remained under the direction of Captain Larcom, 
whom they had appointed to act as their head, until Sunday, 
the 27th of May (seven days), when the upper deck came off by 
the violence of the sea. At this time they lost both the pro- 
visions and the water they had secured on the stage. In this 
distressing situation. Captain Larcom and four others took the 
yawl, shattered as she was. The other twenty-six went forward 
on the bowsprit with two gallons of wine and a little salt meat, 
where another stage was erected on the bows. At this time the 
water being only knee-deep on the lower deck they were enabled 
to obtain hams, etc., from below but which for want of water 
were of little service. And the wine before mentioned was their 
only drink for seven days. 

"They procured a cask of brandy from the lower hold, of 
which they drank so freely (being parched with thirst) that 
fourteen of them died the succeeding night. They made one 
attempt to intercept a sail (four having passed) from which the 
boat returned unsuccessful. Captain Larcom with four others 
took the boat, there being only three others in a situation to 
leave the wreck, and the others preferring to remain on it rather 
than venture in the boat. They (Captain L. and 4 others) left 
the wreck, by observation 39°, 12', and steering N. W. when 
after twenty-three days had elapsed, and two of them having 
died, the boat was picked up by Captain S. L. Davis from 
Lisbon for Gloucester, where they arrived on the 18th of July." 

In this abrupt manner the story ends, and perhaps it is just 
as well. Those left alive and clinging to the submerged wreck 
numbered ten, and there they perished without voice or sign 
to tell how long they struggled and hoped against the inevitable 
end. The three survivors who escaped in the yawl lived for 
twenty-three days almost without food or water. When they 

268 



The First American Voyagers to Japan 

landed they told how "previous to their departure from the 
Margaret they went under the bowsprit and joined in prayer 
for deliverance with Captain Janvin of Newburyport. This 
gentleman who remained behind had conducted a similar serv- 
ice daily for his companions since their shipwreck, and many 
of them united in his petitions quite seriously. Then the five 
men in the yawl took a solemn leave of the ten survivors, of 
whom no farther tidings has ever reached us. With two and a 
half gallons of brandy and a little port, the adventurers in so 
small a boat for sixteen days pursued their anxious and afflic- 
tive course. Then they caught rain in their handkershifs and 
by wringing them out succeeded in partially allaying their 
thirst. Later they caught some rudder fish and eat them." 

There are old men living in Salem who can recall John Very, 
second mate of the brig Romp, who was one of the three that 
lived to be picked up in the yawl. When the boys used to ask 
him to spin the yarn of the wreck of the Margaret he would 
shake his head and become morose and sad. These were 
memories that he wished to forget, and it is pleasanter even to a 
later generation to recall the Margaret, the fine ship newly 
launched, with her crew of stalwart young men "in the bloom 
of youth," bravely setting sail on her maiden voyage to find 
the way to mysterious Japan in the faraway year of Eighteen 
Hundred and One. 



269 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE FIRST YANKEE SHIP AT GUAM 

(1801) 

THAT minute dot on the map of the Pacific known as 
Guam has appealed to the American people with a 
certain serio-comic interest as a colonial possession 
accidentally acquired and ruled by one exiled naval officer 
after another in the role of a benevolent despot and monarch 
of all he surveys. This most fertile and populous of the Ladrone 
Islands, which are spattered over a waste of blue water for four 
hundred miles and more, was casually picked up as the spoils 
of war, it will be remembered, by the cruiser Charleston soon 
after hostilities with Spain had been declared in 1898. The 
Spanish Governor of Guam was rudely awakened from his 
siesta by the boom of guns seaward and, with the politeness of 
his race, hastened to send out word to the commander of the 
American cruiser that he was unable to return the salute for 
lack of powder. Thereupon he was informed that he was not 
being saluted but captured, and the Stars and Stripes were run 
above the ancient fort and its moldering cannon which had 
barked salvos of welcome to the stately galleons of Spain bound 
from South America to Manila two centuries before. 

The sovereignty of Castile being eliminated in this hilarious 
and harmless fashion, the hard headed legatees who wore the 
blue of the American navy sought to reform what had been a 
tropical paradise, where no man worked unless he wanted to, 
where simple, brown-skinned folk dwelt in drowsy contentment 
without thought of the morrow. The gospel taught by the late 

270 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



Captain Richard Leary as naval governor of Guam aimed to 
make these happy islanders more industrious and more moral 
according to the code of the United States. His successors have 
labored along similar lines and Captain Dorn, governor of 
Guam in the year of 1908, proclaimed such commendable but 
rigorous doctrine as this : 

"Every resident of the island having no apparent means of 
subsistence who has the physical ability to apply himself or 
herself to some lawful calling; every person found loitering 
about saloons, dram shops or gambling houses, or tramping or 
straying through the country without visible means of support; 
every person known to be a pickpocket, thief or burglar, when 
found loitering about any gambling house, cockpit or any 
outlying barrio, and every idle or dissolute person of either sex 
caught occupying premises without the consent of the owner 
thereof, shall on conviction be punished by a fine of $250, or 
imprisonment for one year or both." 

A brighter picture of the life of these islanders was painted 
several years ago by W. E. Safford, who wrote of them in a 
paper contributed to the American Anthropologist: 

"Everybody seemed contented and had a pleasant greeting 
for the stranger. It seemed to me that I had discovered Arcadia, 
and when I thought of a letter I had received from a friend 
asking whether I believed it would be possible to civilize the 
natives, I felt like exclaiming: 'God forbid.'" 

The same visitor relates of these people and their ways: 

"There are few masters and few servants in Guam. As a 
rule, the farm is not too extensive to be cultivated by the family, 
all of whom, even to the little children, lend a hand. Often 
the owners of neighboring farms work together in communal 
fashion, one day on A's corn, the next on B's, and so on, laugh- 
ing, skylarking, and singing at their work and stopping whenever 
they feel like it to take a drink of tuba from a neighboring 

271 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

cocoanut tree. Each does his share without constraint, nor 
will one indulge so fully in tuba as to incapacitate himself for 
work, for experience has taught the necessity of temperance, 
and every one must do his share of the reciprocal services. By 
the time the young men have finished their round the weeds 
are quite high enough once more in A's corn to require atten- 
tion. In the evening they separate, each going to his own 
ranch to feed his bullock, pigs and chickens; and after a good 
supper they lie down on a Pandanus mat spread over the elastic 
platform of split bamboo." 

A pleasant picture, this, of toil lightened by common interest ; 
an idyllic glimpse of what work ought to be, perhaps worthy 
the attention of socialists, labor unions, and those that scorn 
the heathen in his blindness. 

Almost a hundred years before Guam became a United 
States possession, the island was visited by a Salem bark, the 
Lydia, the first vessel that ever flew the American flag in the 
harbor of this island. There has been preserved in manuscript 
an illustrated journal of the first mate of the Lydia, William 
Haswell, in which he wrote at considerable length the story 
of this historical pioneering voyage, and his impressions of the 
island and its people under Spanish rule in the far-away year 
of 1801. As the earliest description of a visit to Guam by an 
American sailor or traveler, the manuscript has gained a timely 
interest by the transfer of the island from under the Spanish 
flag. 

However arduous may be the restrictions imposed by the 
conscientious naval governors of to-day, the journal of First 
Mate Haswell of the Lydia shows that the islanders were 
released from a condition of slavery and merciless exploitation 
by the memorable arrival of the cruiser Charleston and the 
subsequent departure from the stone palace of the last of the 
Dons of Spain. 

272 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



The very earliest experience of these islanders with Christian 
civilization must have inspired unhappy tradition to make them 
far from fond of their rulers. The Marianne or Ladrone 
Islands were discovered by Magellan on March 6, 1521, after 
a passage of three months and twenty days from the strait 
which bears his name. Among the accounts written of this 
voyage is that of Antonio Pigafetta, of Vicenza, which relates 
the terrible sufferings endured across an unexplored ocean. 
After there was no more food the crews were forced to eat rats, 
which brought a price of half a crown each, "and enough of 
them could not be got." The seamen then ate sawdust, and 
the ox hide used as chafing gear on the rigging of the main- 
yards. The water was yellow and stinking. Scurvy devastated 
the expedition, and nineteen men died of it, while twenty-five 
or thirty more fell ill "of divers sicknesses, both in the arms 
and legs and other places in such manner that very few remained 
healthy." 

In this desperate plight, Magellan sighted two islands on 
which there were no natives nor any food, and passed by them 
to find an anchorage off what was later called Guam. The 
natives came out to welcome the ship, skimming over the water 
in wonderful canoes or proas, and brought gifts of fruit. The 
ships' sails were furled and preparations made to land when a 
skiff which had ridden astern of the flagship was missed. It 
may have broken adrift, but the natives were suspected of 
stealing it, and Captain-General Magellan at once led forty 
armed men ashore, burned forty or fifty houses and many boats, 
and slaughtered seven or eight native men and women. 

"Before we went ashore," writes Pigafetta, "some of our 
people who were sick said to us that if we should kill any of 
them whether man or woman, that we should bring on board 
their entrails, being persuaded that with the latter they could 
be cured. When we wounded some of those islanders with 

273 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

arrows which entered their bodies, they tried to draw forth the 
arrow, now in one way, now in another, in the meantime regard- 
ing it with great astonishment, and they died of it, which did 
not fail to cause us compassion. Seeing us taking our depart- 
ure, then, they followed us with more than a hundred boats 
for more than a league. They approached our ships, showing 
us fish and pretending to wish to give them to us; but when 
they were near they cast stones at us and fled. We passed 
under full sail among their boats, which, with great dexterity, 
escaped us. We saw among them some women who were 
weeping and tearing their hair, surely for their husbands killed 
by us." 

After this bloodthirsty and wicked visitation no attempt was 
made to colonize these islands until a Jesuit priest, Padre 
Diege Luis de Suavitores, landed at Guam in 1668, when a 
mission was established. The Spanish Jesuits held full sway 
until they were expelled in 1769 and their place taken by the 
Friars. 

When the Salem bark, Lydia, visited Guam, therefore, in 
1801, the Spanish administration was in its heyday and had 
been long enough established to offer a fair survey of what 
this particular kind of civilization had done for the natives. 
The Lydia was in Manila on a trading voyage when she was 
chartered by the Spanish Government to carry to Guam the 
new governor of the islands, his family, his suite and his luggage. 
The bark sailed from Manila for Guam on October 20, 1801, 
and two days later, while among the Philippine Islands, the 
first mate wrote in his journal : 

"Now having to pass through dangerous straits, we went to 

work to make boarding nettings, and to get our arms in the best 

order, but had we been attacked, we should have been taken 

with ease. The pirates are numerous in their prows* and we 

* Proas. 
274 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



have but eleven in number exclusive of our passengers, viz., 
the captain, two officers, cook, steward, and six men before 
the mast. The passengers are the Governor of the Marianna 
Islands, his Lady, three children and two servant girls, and 
twelve men servants, a Friar and his servant, a Judge and two 
servants, total passengers twenty-four and we expected but 
eight. Too many idlers to drink water, and to my certain 
knowledge they would not have fought had we been attacked. 
However, we passed in safety. 

" These passengers caused a great deal of trouble when their 
baggage came on board. It could not be told from the cargo 
and, of course, we stowed it all away together below, so that 
every day there was a search for something or other which 
caused the ship to be forever in confusion." 

There was more excitement while passing between the 
islands of Panay and Negros, where the bark was becalmed 
close to land, "and all our passengers were in the greatest 
confusion for fear of being taken and put to death in the dark 
and not have time to say their prayers." Next day the Lydia 
anchored at the island of Sambongue and the "Governor, his 
Lady and children" went on shore to visit the officers of the 
Spanish settlement. Captain Barnard of the bark did not 
like the appearance of this port, and "put the ship into the 
highest state of defence possible, got all the boarding nettings 
up, and the arms loaded and kept a sea watch. This night a 
Spanish launch, as it proved to be afterwards, attempted to 
come on board, but we fired at it and ordered it to keep off." 

Cordial relations were soon established between ship and 
shore, however, and the Spanish Governor of Sambongue and 
his sons went on board to make a friendly call. "We had 
made every preparation in our power to receive them with the 
greatest respect," says the journal. "His sons were as bad as 
Indians. They wanted everything they saw. Captain Barnard 

275 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

presented them with a day and night glass. They in turn sent 
a boat-load of cocoanuts, upwards of a thousand, and some 
plantain stalks for the live stock, some small hogs, two sheep, 
a small ox and goat, but the live stock was for the passengers. 
The same evening the Governor's sons returned on board and 
brought with them six girls and their music to entertain us, but 
the ship was so full of lumber that they had no place to show 
their dancing. However, we made shift to amuse ourselves 
till three in the morning. The current then turning and a 
light breeze from the northward springing up, we sent them all 
on shore, they singing and playing their music on the way." 

The following day, November 7th, saw the Lydia under way 
and William Haswell, with cheerful recollections of this island, 
found time to write : 

"The town of Sambongue is a pleasant place and protected 
by fifty pieces of cannon, the greatest part of them so concealed 
by the trees that they cannot be seen by shipping. This proved 
fatal to two English frigates that attempted to take it. They 
landed their men before the Spaniards fired. The Spaniards 
destroyed two boats and killed, by their account, forty men, one 
of them a Captain of Marines. The English made the best of 
their way back to the ships. One of them got aground abreast 
of the Fort and received great injury. This is their story, but 
we must make allowance. One thing is certain, the British 
left the greater part of their arms behind them. The English 
account is, the Fox, four killed and twelve wounded, the Syhille, 
two killed and six wounded. 

" The English have so much of the Malay trade that but little 
comes to the share of the Spaniards, and in the words of the 
Governor's wife there is plenty of cocoanuts, water and girls 
at Sambongue, but nothing else. I was well pleased with the 
inhabitants, as they did everything in their power to serve us. 

"November 8th. We had fine weather, light winds and 

276 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



those easterly, so that it rendered our passage long and tedious. 
Our passengers were very anxious to arrive at the island where 
they were to be the head commanders, a station they had never 
before enjoyed. The Friar was praying day and night but it 
would not bring a fair wind. 

" . . . Jan. 4th. 4 P. M. we set all steering sails and 
stood to the westward and got sight of the Islands of Guam 
and Rota. Next day we had light winds and calms. We 
steered for the north end of the island and at five P. M. found 
it was too late to get in that night. Reeft the topsails and stood 
off and on all night. At 4 P. M. set all sail to get round to the 
S. W. side. At 10 A. M. saw the town of Aguana* and at one 
we entered the harbour at Caldera. A gun was fired from the 
Island Fort, at which we came to and handed sails, the ship 
rolling very heavy. A small boat came on board to enquire 
who we were. As soon as they were informed that the new 
Governor was on board, they set off in the greatest hurry to 
carry the information to Don Manuel Mooro, the old Governor. 

" The breeze continuing, we got under weigh and beat up the 
harbour. They placed canoes on the dangerous places and by 
6 P. M. the ship was up and anchored in sixteen fathoms of 
water, sails handed, boats and decks cleaned. At midnight 
the Adjutant came on board with a letter from Don Manuel 
wishing our passenger, Don Vincentz Blanco, joy on his safe 
arrival and informing him that the boats would attend him in 
the morning. 

" Jan. 7th. Accordingly at 6 A. M. three boats came on 
board, one of them a handsome barge, the crew in uniform, a 
large launch for baggage, and a small boat for the Judge and 
his two servants. At ten the Governor, his Lady, and suite 
left the Ship. We saluted with nine guns and three cheers. 
We then went to work to clear ship." 

*The name of the capital or chief town of Guam is spelled "Agana" to-day. 

277 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

At this place in his narrative the first mate of the Lydia turns 
aside from the pomp and fine feathers of the new Governor's 
reception to tell of the hard fate of another vessel. 

"We savi^ a ship heaving in sight and not able to find the 
passage over the Reef. I took a small boat and went out and 
found her to be an English ship in distress. I piloted them in 
and brought them to anchorage near the Hill Forts in thirty 
fathoms of water. Their story is as follows, that the ship was 
taken from the Spaniards on the coast of Peru and carried to 
Port Jackson, New Holland, and condemned. The present 
owners bought her there and went with her to New Zealand 
to cut spars which they were intending to carry to the Cape of 
Good Hope. But the ship going on shore and bilging herself, 
delayed them some time which occasioned a greater expenditure 
of provisions than what they expected. 

" They at length got the ship repaired and loaded and went 
to the Friendly Islands to get provisions, but they were dis- 
appointed as the natives were at war with one another and 
nothing to be got but yams of which they got a slender stock. 
They set ofi^ again, but the ship got aground on some rocks which 
made her leaky. They got her off and stopt the leak on the 
inside with clay as well as they could. Their men then mutinied 
and insisted on carrying the ship to Macao, but not being able 
to reach that place, they put in here for provisions, thinking 
the Spaniards would let them go out again. But their ship was 
so bad that she never left this place. They could not get at 
the leak any other way than by heaving the keel out and that 
was a work of time. I sent them some salt beef and pork 
on board and took an officer and fifty Indians and a bower 
anchor and cable with me to get her up the harbour which we 
were some time about, but plenty of men made light work, 
and I warped her up abreast of the Lydia, and there moored 
her. 

278 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



"Next day eight of the English ship's men took a boat and 
went to town to the Governor to enquire how much he would 
give them to carry the ship to Manila, but he ordered them to 
be put in irons for mutiny." 

Meanwhile the Lydia was discharging cargo and filling her 
water casks. When the wind blew too hard for the boats to 
make a landing at Agana, Mate Haswell writes: "I used to 
take my gun and two or three Indians with me and wander into 
the woods, but in all my stay on the Island I shot only one 
small deer and some hogs and a few birds amongst which was 
a large Bat near three feet from tip of wing to wing. The 
woods are so full of underbrush that it is hard labour to one 
that is not used to it to get forward, but the Indians travel as 
fast as I can on clear ground. I frequently went into inland 
Indian villages and always found them hard at work with the 
tobacco which all belongs to the King. As soon as dried it 
must be carried to the Governor and he sells it all at an enormous 
price. Everything else they have, even the cattle, belongs to 
the King. 

"The houses are small, but very cleanly, and are built of a 
kind of basket work, with cocoanut leaves and are about twelve 
feet from the ground. Their furniture consists of two or three 
hammocks of net work, and the same number of mats, a chest, 
one frying pan, a large copper pan, and a few earthen jars. 
Near their houses is a large row of wicker baskets in piles six 
feet high for their fowls to lay their eggs and set in, the breed 
of which they are very careful to preserve. The fire place is 
under a small shed near the house to shelter it from the rain. 
Their food is chiefly shell fish and plantains, cocoanuts and a 
kind of small potatoes which they dry and make flour of, and 
it makes good bread when new. 

"But to return to the Lydia. She was bountifully supplied 
with fresh provisions, beef, pork, fowls, all at the King's expense 

279 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and in the greatest plenty so that we gave three-quarters of it 
away to the English ship, who had nothing allowed them but 
jerked beef and rice. As our crew was small we had a great 
deal of duty a-going on, I often got assistance from the English 
ship and with this supply of men the work was light. I kept 
the long boat constantly employed bringing on board wood and 
water. Four men were on shore cutting w^ood, and some hands 
repairing the rigging, painting ship, etc., and getting ready for 
sea as soon as possible. 

" About this time Captain Barnard came on board and went, 
accompanied by himself and the second officer, to make a 
survey of the hull of the English ship, her hull, rigging, sails, 
etc., and found her not fit to perform a passage without some 
new sails, a new cable and a great deal of new rigging and a 
new boat, as hers were lost. The leak we thought could be 
reduced, on the inside, but all the seams w^ere very open and 
required caulking. A report of our opinions being drawn out, 
I was sent to town with it. 

"The Governor hinted it was impossible to get what was 
required, but yet wished to send the ship to Manila. The poor 
owners hung their heads in expectancy of the condemnation of 
the ship." 

After the Lydia had been made ready for her return voyage 
to Manila, Mr. Haswell relates that he went to town, Agana, 
for a few days, and passed "the time in a very pleasant manner. 
I found them preparing our sea stock, which was to be in the 
greatest abundance. It consisted of eight oxen, fifty hogs, 
large and small, but in general about thirty pounds each, twenty- 
four dozen of fowl, five dozen of pigeons, two live deer and a 
boat load of yams, potatoes, watermelons, oranges, limes, cocoa- 
nuts, etc. The way we came to be so well provided for was 
that both the Governors and the Lieutenant Governor insisted 
on supplying us with stock, but that was not all, for the Friars 

280 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



and the Captains of the Villages near the seaside all sent presents 
on board, some one thing, some another. 

"Thus the ship's decks were as full as they could be with 
live stock, hen coops from one end of the quarterdeck to the 
other, the long boat and main deck full of hogs, and the fore- 
castle of oxen. This great stock of provisions was more than 
half wasted, for the heat of the weather was such that more 
than half of it was spoiled. It would not keep more than 
twenty-four hours without being cooked and then not more 
than two days, so that if we killed an ox of five hundred pounds, 
four hundred of it was hove overboard, which was a pity, but 
we had no salt. 

"All of the English gentlemen and some of the Spanish 
officers came down to the waterside to see us embark. I then 
went in company with Captain Barnard and bid the kind 
Governor farewell and found scarcely a dry eye in the house. 
The Governor's Lady would not make her appearance, but 
she waved a handkerchief from the balcony of the Palace as 
we embarked in the boats. 

" Captain Barnard was disappointed as he expected to have 
carried the old Governor back to Manila with us, and only 
required half the sum we had for going out, which was 8,000 
dollars, but the old man thought 4,000 dollars was too much 
and offered 2,000 which was refused, the Captain thinking that 
he would give it at last. Don Manuel had the precaution to 
embark all the old Governor's goods and the remains of his wife 
on board the Lydia by which Captain Barnard thought he would 
come up to his price, and so took them on board for the small 
sum of two hundred dollars. Nothing was left behind but the 
old Governor and servants. He expected to the last moment 
that we would stop for him, but as soon as he saw us under 
weigh, he wanted to stop us, but it was too late as we were gone 
before his messenger reached the fort. 

281 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" We left the Harbour de Calderon with a fine breeze N. E. 
and as soon as we were at sea a man belonging to the English 
ship that had secreted himself on board, came on deck and 
shewed himself. We had also an Otaheita Indian that was 
under the care of Captain Barnard as his servant. We had but 
one passenger, a Friar, and he was a good man, his behaviour 
was very different from the one we carried out with us. He 
was so bad that we were forced to send him to Coventry, or 
in other words, no one would speak with him." 

Having finished this running chronicle of the voyage to 
Guam, the first mate of the Lydia made a separate compilation 
of such general information as he had been able to pick up. 
His account of the treatment of the natives by their Spanish 
overlords is in part as follows: 

"They are under the Spanish martial law. All (native) 
officers are tried by the Governor and the King's officers of the 
army. They have the power to inflict any punishment they 
think proper. When a man is found worthy of death he must 
be sent to Manila to be condemned and then brought back again 
to be executed. There was only one lying in irons for murder, 
but Captain Barnard would not take him with us. The whole 
island belongs to the King of Spain whom the Governor per- 
sonates, and the inhabitants must pay a yearly rent for their 
houses and lands and all the cattle are the property of the 
Crown and can be taken from them at the pleasure of the King's 
officers, nor dare they kill their cattle but with the permission 
of the Governor or the Friars, and then never kill a cov/ till she 
is very old. The only things they have are the milk and butter 
and the labour of the beast, and a small piece when it is killed. 

"They are called free-men, but I think contrary. If the 
Governor wants a road cut he calls on all the men and sets 
them about it and only finds them rice till it is done. The old 
Governor carried too far and was called a great Tyrant. He 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



made them build two forts and a bridge and cut a road through 
a high rock, build a school house and some other things and 
never allowed them to be idle, but for want of a supply of food 
from Manila the poor men were near starving as he did not 
give them time to cultivate the land. 

" The Church also has its modes of trial. They have a kind 
of Inquisition or trial by Torture established but I never heard 
of their punishing any person. The poor Indians respect the 
Friars highly, but the Governor will not let the Friars meddle 
with the affairs of Government, as they often want to do. They 
were at variance about a man that had committed murder and 
fled to the Church for protection. One of the Officers took him 
from under the altar. The priests resented this but were forced 
to hold their tongues. They sat on trials before, but now they 
are excluded and the Governor takes care of things temporal. 
But we carried out a Judge with us to examine into the Gov- 
ernor's behaviour and to hear the complaints of the poor to see 
them redressed. 

"On the arrival of the new Governor the ship that brings 
him salutes him when he leaves the ship and on his landing all 
the forts fire except the Citadel which fires on his entering the 
church. The road was lined with the militia without arms 
and he was received at the landing place by the Lieutenant 
Governor and Adjutant and the Guards under arms. There 
was a handsome carriage and four horses for the children and 
two chair palanquins for him and his Lady, but he mounted 
the Adjutant's horse, and rode under triumphal arches of 
flowers and leaves of trees to the church which he entered with 
all his family. The forts then fired and the Guards received 
him on his leaving the church and conducted him to the Palace 
where the old Governor received him and the Guards fired 
three volleys. 

" A grand entertainment was provided of which all the officers 

283 



The Ships a7id Sailors of Old Salem 

partook and in which the old Governor shewed his taste. His 
table was covered with the best of provisions, consisting of 
beef, venison, fowls, fish, turtle, etc. All was in the greatest 
style, and the old man still had good wines and chocolate 
though he had been five years without supplies from Manila. 
The feast he gave was grand and by far surpassing what was to 
be expected on a barren island. The next day all the ofiicers 
waited on the Governor's Lady to pay their respects. All of 
them brought presents, viz., butter, eggs, fowls, fruit, but the 
Adjutant's wife gave her a pair of ear-rings of pearls, the largest 
that I ever saw. They were entertained with music and dancing 
and had beverages served round to them, but some of the head 
ones had chocolate, wine, cakes, etc. 

"In their dances the natives imitate the Spaniards as near 
as possible. Their voices are soft and harmonious, their songs 
are short and agreeable, their language borders on the Malay 
but not so that they can understand one another. These people 
are very hospitable and on your entering their huts they offer 
you young cocoanuts and will get any kind of fruit they have in 
a few moments. They are in general healthy and strong but 
a certain malady introduced among them by the Spaniards 
has made sad ravages and they had no medicines in the Island 
at the time of our arrival, and they have no person that is 
acquainted with medicines or with disorders of any kind. It 
is a great pity that the Spanish Government does not send a 
man sufficiently qualified to put a stop to that dreadful disorder. 

" The Roman Catholic religion is universally established in 
all its Terrors. I could not find out whether the Indians had 
any of their own, but they pay great respect to some large flat 
stones of an oval shape that are often found near their villages 
and are engraved with characters like Malay, but there was no 
person on the Island that could decipher them, as all kinds of 
learning have been long lost by the poor Indians. The Spaniards 

284 




^. 



■^ 



'^- 



KZ 






■^^ 




— -f^ 






The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



have established a school to teach them to read and write, but 
there are few of them who learn more than to read the Prayers 
which are given them by the Friars. 

"In the inland places the men and women go naked, but they 
have clothes and on the appearance of a European they run and 
put them on and are proud of being dressed, but they cannot 
buy clothes to wear in common because they are so dear, for 
the Governor gains eight hundred per cent, on all he sells them. 
And no other person is allowed to trade. They are very obedient 
to government and it is seldom that there is any disturbance. 

"Of the troops one company is of colored men formerly 
brought from Manila but now more than half Indians. They 
are well clothed and make a good appearance with bright arms 
and a good band of music. Of militia there is one regiment 
of one thousand men. Their arms are in bad order, so rusty 
that when the Militia paraded to receive the new Governor 
they were not armed but sat about cleaning them. The pay- 
ment of this militia is the only cash in circulation on the Island. 
Every man has ten dollars a year to keep himself in readiness. 
When pay day comes it causes a kind of market. The Gov- 
ernor's secretary pays them and they carry the money to the 
dry goods store and lay it out in Bengal goods, cottons, and in 
Chinese pans, pots, knives, and hoes, which soon takes all 
their pay away so that the cash never leaves the Governor's 
hands. It is left here by the galleons in passing and when the 
Governor is relieved he carries it with him to Manila, often to 
the amount of eighty or ninety thousand dollars. 

"The population is estimated at 11,000 inhabitants* of which 
twelve only are white and about fifty or sixty mixed. The 
Governor and four Friars are the only Spaniards from old 
Spain, the others are from Peru, Manila, etc. The city or 

* The first American census of Guam reported a native population of between 
9,000 and 10,000. 

285 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

capital of the Island is on the north side in a large bay, but 
there is no anchorage for shipping. It is a pleasant town and 
contains five hundred houses of all sorts and one thousand 
inhabitants of all descriptions. It is on a small plain under a 
hill which protects it from the heavy gales that sometimes 
blow from the eastward. The town consists of six streets, one 
of them three-quarters of a mile long. The buildings of the 
Governor and Chief Officers are of stone and are good houses. 
The Palace is two-story and situated in a very pleasant part of 
the town with a large plantation of bread-fruit trees before it, 
and a road from it to the landing place. It is in the old Spanish 
style. The audience chamber is near a hundred feet long, 
forty broad and twenty high and well ornamented with lamps 
and paintings. At each end of it are private apartments. In 
the front is a large balcony which reaches from one end of the 
house to the other. Behind the palace are all the outhouses 
which are very numerous. Close to the Palace are the barracks 
and guard-room. It is a large building and is capable of con- 
taining five hundred men with ease. To the northward stands 
the church, built like one of our barns at home. It has a low 
steeple for the bells. On the inside it is well adorned with 
pictures, images, etc. On the south east and near the church 
is the free school which has a spire. Here the alarm bell is 
hung, also the school bell. The scholars never leave the house 
but to go to church." 

In this rambling fashion does Mr. William Haswell, mate of 
the Salem bark Lydia, discourse of Guam as he saw it in the 
year of Our Lord, 1801. He dwells at some length also on 
the remarkable abundance of fish, shells and beche de mer, 
the animals wild and tame, "the finest watermelons I ever 
saw," and the proas or " Prows " which he has seen " sail twelve 
knots with ease." Of one of these craft he tells this tale: 

"There is a Prow that was drove on shore in a southerly 

286 



The First Yankee Ship at Guam 



gale from the Caroline Islands with only one man alive. She had 
been at sea fourteen days, and ten of them without provisions. 
There were three dead in the boat and the one that was alive 
could not get out of the boat without assistance. She had but 
one out-rigger which they shifted from side to side. In other 
ways she was like the Guam Prows. The man that came in 
her was well used and has no desire to go back. He looks a 
little like a Malay, but there was no person in the Island that 
understood his language." 

Mate William Haswell has left unfinished certain incidents 
of his voyage to the bewitching island of Guam. Why was the 
Friar of the outward voyage sent to Coventry? Did the thrifty 
"old Governor" finally overtake the remains of his wife which 
sailed away to Manila without him? One might also wish to 
know more of the brilliantly successful methods of the Governor 
as a captain of industry. The system by which he kept all the 
cash in the island in his own pockets, paying his militia in 
order that they might immediately buy goods of him at a profit 
of eight hundred per cent., seems flawless. It has not been 
surpassed by any twentieth century apostle of "high finance." 

Whatever sins of omission may be charged against the literary 
account of First Mate William Haswell, it is greatly to his credit 
that he should have taken pains to write this journal of the 
Lydia, a memorial of the earliest voyage under the American 
flag to that happy-go-lucky colony of Uncle Sam which in 
more recent years has added something to the gaiety of nations. 



287 



CHAPTER XV 

NATHANIEL BOWDITCH AND HIS " PRACTICAL NAVIGATOR ' 

(1802) 



H 



AIL to thee, poor little ship, Mayflower, of Delft 
Haven," wrote Thomas Carlyle, "poor common 
looking ship, hired by common charter-party for 
coined dollars — caulked with mere oakum and tar — provisioned 
with vulgarest biscuit and bacon — yet what ship Argo or miracu- 
lous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish 
bumbarge in comparison!" 

This fine rhapsody is of a piece with many another tribute 
to the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers and their immortal ship, 
and yet it would seem that some measure of praise were due 
that sturdy English seaman, Thomas Jones, the master of the 
Mayflower, who dared to make his blundering way across 
the Atlantic three centuries ago. Nor can one go wrong in 
admiring the courage and resourcefulness of any of these bold 
seamen who crossed oceans, made their landfalls and destined 
ports in safety and rolled home again with the crudest knowl- 
edge of navigation and almost no instruments for accurately 
charting their courses. Even a century ago shipmasters voyaged 
to far-away havens without chronometers, trusting to the log- 
line and compass to find their longitude by dead reckoning, and 
keeping track of their latitude with the quadrant and a " Navi- 
gator" or "Seaman's Friend." Nathaniel Silsbee of Salem 
records that as late as 1827 he made a passage in a brig to 
Rotterdam when they had no chronometer, and knew nothing 

288 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ^'Practical Navigator'^ 

of lunar observations, but navigated by dead reckoning, or the 
estimated speed of the ship. On his first voyage of eighteen 
months beyond the Cape of Good Hope, " the only spare canvass 
for the repair of a sail on board the vessel was what was on 
the cover of the log-book."* 

Before informing the landsman who Nathaniel Bowditch 
was, and what this self-taught astronomer and mathematician 
of Salem did to aid the great multitudes of those that go down 
to the sea in ships, it may be worth while to tell something of 
how our forefathers found their way from shore to shore. The 
real beginnings of the science of navigation as it is known to-day, 
are to be sought no further away than the seventeenth century 
which first saw in use the telescope, the pendulum, logarithms, 
the principles of the law of gravitation and instruments for 
measuring minute angles of the heavens. The master of the 
Mayflower in 1620 was hardly better equipped for ocean path- 
finding than Columbus had been two centuries before him. 
Columbus in his turn had made his voyages possible by employ- 
ing the knowledge gained by the earlier Portuguese exploring 
expeditions of the fifteenth century. 



* The Boston ship Massachusetts sailed for the East Indies in 1790. She 
was the largest merchant vessel built in the United States up to that time, and 
was especially designed and equipped for the Oriental trade, measuring six 
hundred tons and carrying a crew of eighty men. Winthrop L. Marvin's 
American Merchant Marine states: 

" In view of the importance of the Massachusetts it is astonishing to learn from 
Delano's Narrative that she went to sea without a chronometer, and without a 
single officer who could work a lunar observation. This compelled her to 
creep down the coast of Africa, feeling her way along, as it were, by the dis- 
colored current. She tried to sight the Cape Verde Islands to correct her 
reckoning, but missed them, and standing too far back toward the East came 
near bringing up on the inhospitable sands of South Africa. But the worst 
miscalculation of all was the missing of Java Head, that great landmark of 
East India voyagers. This blunder compelled the Massachusetts to make at 
least fifteen extra degrees of 'easting' and cost her about three weeks' time. 
If a great ship like the Massachusetts were so ill-pro\'ided with the instruments 
of navigation, it is inexplicable how the small ships of poorer owners ever found 
their way around the Cape of Good Hope, and through the lab5Tinths of the 
East Indian Archipelago." 

289 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

In fact, up to the time of the voyages undertaken under the 
patronage of Prince Henry of Portugal which led to the dis- 
covery of the Cape Verde Islands in 1447, and of Sierra Leone 
in 1460, thousands of years had passed without the slightest 
improvement in aids to navigation except the introduction of 
the mariners' compass or magnetic needle among European 
nations at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The 
civilization which bordered the Mediterranean had known only 
coastwise traffic, and the vast ocean beyond the Pillars of 
Hercules was mysterious and unfurrowed by the keels of trading 
galleys. Ancient discoveries in astronomy had taught that 
the altitudes of the sun and stars varied with respect to the 
location of the observer according to fixed laws, but the sailor 
had not dreamed of making use of these laws to find his latitude 
or longitude, except for the tradition that the adventurous 
Phoenician traders guided their vessels by means of the known 
position of the constellation of Ursa Minor, or of the Pole star. 

Prince Henry of Portugal resolved to collect and systematize 
all the knowledge of nautical affairs obtainable in the early 
part of the fifteenth century, preparatory to sending forth his 
intrepid seamen as explorers of the Atlantic, and established an 
observatory near Cape St. Vincent in order to obtain more 
accurate tables of the declination of the sun, by which the 
mariner obtained his latitude in clumsy and unreliable fashion. 
The sun's " declination " is its angular distance from the celestial 
equator, or the angle that a line drawn to the sun from any 
point at sea or on the earth's surface makes with the plane of 
the celestial equator. In other words, the most important 
early discovery in navigation, next to the use of the magnetic 
needle, was the use of an instrument by which these angles 
could be determined and then utilized by means of astronomical 
tables to find a ship's distance north or south of the earth's 
equator, in degrees and fractions thereof. 

290 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ''Practical Navigator" 

John II of Portugal, grand-nephew of this enhghtened and 
ambitious Prince Henry, endeavored to make further advance- 
ment in the same field and employed a " Committee on Naviga- 
tion " to collect new data and make more calculations to lessen 
the errors in the tables of the sun's declination. They turned 
their attention also to the instrument then in use for taking 
observations at sea, the cross-staff, and recommended that the 
astrolabe should be employed instead. The shipmaster of 
Columbus' time went to sea with a cross-staff or astrolabe, a 
compass, a table of the sun's declination, a table for connecting 
the altitude of the pole star and occasionally a very incorrect 
chart. The first sea chart ever seen in England was carried 
there in 1489 by Bartholomew Columbus. The log-line had 
not been invented and it was not until 1607 that any means 
was known of measuring a ship's course through the water. 

The cross-staff, as used by Columbus and Vasco da Gamma, 
consisted of two light battens or strips of wood, joined in the 
shape of a cross, the observer taking his sights from the ends 
of the " cross " and the " staff," on which the angles were marked 
in degrees. As a device for measuring altitudes, the cross-staff 
had been known to ancient astronomers, although unknown to 
their seamen. The astrolabe was a copper disk, suspended 
from above with a plumb line beneath, and was found to be 
more convenient for taking altitudes than the cross-staff, and 
gradually superseded it. 

The problem of finding longitudes at sea was far more baffling 
than that of latitude. It was early discovered that the only 
accurate and satisfactory method must be by ascertaining the 
difference in time at two meridians at the same instant, but 
until the invention of the chronometer this could be done only 
by finding, at two different places, the apparent time of the 
same celestial phenomena. The most obvious phenomena 
occurring to the early navigators were the motions of the moon 

291 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

among the fixed stars, which was first suggested in 1514. Better 
instruments and a sounder theory of the moon's course were 
needed before its motions could be predicted with accuracy 
and recorded beforehand in an almanac in order to give the 
mariner a basis of comparison with his own observations, and 
the very principal of such a theory was, of course, unknown 
until Newton's great discoveries, after which the problem of 
lunar observations began to have a chief place in the history 
of navigation. 

The cross-staff and astrolabe gave place in time to the 
quadrant, which was a much more accurate instrument for 
observation and was used by the mariners of the eighteenth 
century. It, in its turn, was discarded for the sextant during 
the nineteenth century, which instrument, as improved and 
perfected, is in universal use at sea to-day for helping to find 
a ship's position by means of the measurement of angles with 
respect to the sun and stars. 

The chronometer, for finding longitudes, has taken the place 
of lunar observations, and the story of the struggle to invent a 
time-keeping mechanism of requisite accuracy for use at sea 
is one of the romances of science. Watches were unknown 
until 1530, but before the end of that century efforts had been 
made to ascertain the difference in time between two places 
by means of two of these crude timepieces which, however, 
were too unreliable to be of any practical service to navigation. 
The study of the problem was stimulated by the offer of a 
reward of a thousand crowns by Philip III of Spain, in 1598, 
to him who should discover a safer and more accurate method 
of finding longitude at sea than those in use. The States- General 
of Holland followed this with the offer of ten thousand florins, 
and in 1674 England became actively interested in the problem 
and Greenwich Observatory was established for the benefit of 
navigation and especially to calculate the moon's exact position 

292 



Nathaniel Boivditch and his "Practical Navigator" 

with respect to the fixed stars a year in advance and so make 
the "lunar observation" method of determining longitude a 
safer guide for the seamen than was the case with the tables 
then existing. 

The pressing need of such investigation was brought home 
to England by a series of great disasters to her naval force 
because of blundering navigation. Several men-of-war were 
wrecked off Plymouth in 1691 through a mistake in their landfall 
and Sir Cloudesley Shovel, one of Great Britain's immortal 
admirals, was lost with his fleet of ships off the Scilly Islands 
in 1707 because of a mistake in reckoning position. The govern- 
ment became convinced that the whole theory and practice of 
navigation needed a radical overhauling, and in 1714 a "royal 
commission for the discovery of longitude at sea " was appointed 
and at the same time a series of splendid prizes was offered 
for the invention of an accurate chronometer; five thousand 
pounds for a chronometer that would enable a ship six months 
from home to find her longitude within sixty miles; seven 
thousand five hundred pounds if the limit of error were within 
forty miles; ten thousand pounds if the position were correct 
within thirty miles. Another clause of this bill as enacted by 
Parliament offered a "premium" of twenty thousand pounds 
for the invention of any method whatever by means of which 
longitude at sea could be determined within thirty miles. Two 
years later the Regent of France offered a hundred thousand 
francs for the same purpose with similar stipulations. 

There lived in Yorkshire a young watchmaker, John Harrison, 
who learned to make better watches than anybody else in 
England, and he had followed with keen interest the experi- 
ments which attempted to find longitude by means of watches 
set to keep Greenwich Observatory time as nearly as possible. 
He determined to attack the problem in his way and to compete 
for these royal prizes if it meant the devotion of a lifetime to 

293 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

the art of making chronometers. He spent years in making 
one instrument after another until in 1736 he carried to Green- 
wich a "gridiron pendulum clock" which was placed on board 
a ship bound for Lisbon. It proved to be accurate enough to 
correct the ship's reckoning of observations by several miles, and 
was a notable improvement on any other timepiece of the day. 

The Royal Commission urged Harrison to drop all other 
work and make a business of competing for the prizes, and 
offered to supply him w^ith funds. For twenty-four years John 
Harrison strove to make a chronometer that should win the 
twenty thousand pounds. He was sixty-eight years old when, 
in 1761, he wrote the Commission that he had a chronometer 
which he was willing to send on a trial voyage, and asked that 
his son William be allowed to go with it to take care of the 
precious instrument. 

The Commission sent the chronometer out in a ship bound 
to Jamaica in order that its mechanism might be tested by 
extremes of climate and temperature. On arriving at Jamaica 
the chronometer had varied but four seconds from Greenwich 
time. When the ship returned to England after an absence 
of 147 days, the total variation w^as found to be less than two 
minutes, or eighteen miles of longitude. The Commission 
demanded that the chronometer be given another trial, and it 
was sent to Barbados on a voyage five months long, at the end 
of which it showed a variation of only sixteen seconds from 
Greenwich time, which meant that John Harrison's chronometer 
had lost or gained an average of about two-thirds of a second a 
week. 

The Yorkshire watchmaker, after a lifetime of service, had 
won a momentous victory, but more exacting tests were de- 
manded of his masterpiece and he was threatened with death 
from old age before he was finally given the twenty thousand 
pounds. Thenceforth the chronometer slowly made its way 

294 




Nathaniel Bowdileh, author of "Ihe Practical Navigator' 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ''Practical Navigator'" 

among ship owners as a necessary article of the captain's 
equipment and the most important contribution to navigation 
since the magnetic compass. 

Old-fashioned mariners with an eye to expense continued to 
find their longitude by means of lunar observations for half a 
century and more after the chronometer had been perfected, 
and in American merchant vessels the chronometer may be 
said to belong to the nineteenth century era of navigation. 
"Dead reckoning" and lunar observations were the main-stays 
of the Salem sea captains in the days of their greatest activity 
over distant seas, and their fellow-townsman, Nathaniel Bow- 
ditch, author of "The Practical Navigator," was a far greater 
man, and more useful to them, than John Harrison of York- 
shire. 

The log-line and sandglass have been discarded on steamers 
of to-day in favor of the patent log with its automatic registering 
mechanism, but the old-fashioned method of measuring the 
ship's course is used on sailing vessels the world over. It gave 
to the language of the sea the word "knot" for a nautical mile, 
and the passenger on board the thirty-thousand-ton express 
liner of the Atlantic " steamer lanes " talks of her six hundred 
and odd knots" per day without knowing how the word came 
into use, or that at the taff rail of the white-winged bark or ship 
passed in midocean the logline and glass are being used to 
reckon the miles in genuine old-fashioned "knots," just as they 
were employed a century ago. 

The "log" is a conical-shaped canvas bag, or a triangular 
billet of wood so attached to the "log-line" that it will drag 
with as much resistance as possible. The line is wound round 
a reel, and is divided at regular intervals into spaces called 
"knots." These are marked on the line by bits of rag or 
leather; at the first knot is a plain piece of leather, at the second 
a piece of leather with two tails; at the third a knot is tied in 

295 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

the line, and so on according to a simple system which enables 
the observer to identify the sequence and number of the "knots." 
The glass is like an hourglass, but the sand is carefully measured 
to run through in exactly fourteen or twenty-eight seconds. 
The logline and its knots are carefully measured to correspond 
with the glass. That is, if the sand runs out in twenty-eight 
seconds, the distance between two knots of the line bears the 
same ratio to the length of a real "knot," or nautical mile as 
the twenty-eight seconds for which the sandglass is set bears to 
an hour of time. Therefore the number of "knots" of the 
line unreeled out over the stern of the ship while the sand is 
running in the glass gives the number of miles which she is 
traveling per hour. 

When the speed is to be read, one man throws overboard the 
"log" and line, while another stands ready with the glass. 
The first twenty or thirty fathoms of line are allowed to pay 
out before the knots are counted. When the drag has settled 
quietly in the sea astern and anchored itself, a white rag tied 
to the line marks the instant for turning the glass. As the bit 
of white rag flashes over the rail the man with the reel begins 
to count the knots that slip past, the glass is set running, and 
when the last trickle of sand has sifted through, the man holding 
it shouts "stop her." The other man with the log reel notes 
the number of knots paid out, and down on the ship's logbook 
go the figures as the number of miles per hour the ship is 
making through the water. 

The log and sandglass, along with the sounding lead, are 
survivals of a vanished age of sea life, perhaps the only necessary 
aids to navigation which are used to-day precisely as our fore- 
fathers used them. For this reason, and also because the log 
and glass played so vital a part in the day's work of the naviga- 
tors of such ports as Salem, they have been discussed at some 
length in this introduction to a sketch of the life of Nathaniel 

296 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ^'Practical Navigator" 

Bowditch, for his place among the truly great men of his time, 
great in benefactions to humanity, cannot be perceived by the 
landsman without some slight knowledge of the conditions 
which then existed in the vastly important science of deep- 
water navigation. 

The nineteenth century had to thank this seafaring astron- 
omer of Salem for its most valuable working treatise on navi- 
gation which illustrates with singular aptness the fact, often 
overlooked, that the ship captain is a practical astronomer 
and this his calling has been more and more safeguarded by 
methods of applied science. Or as Professor Simon Newcomb 
has expressed it: 

"The usefulness of practical astronomy and the perfection 
it has attained may be judged from this consideration: take an 
astronomer blindfolded to any part of the globe, give him the 
instruments we have mentioned, a chronometer regulated to 
Greenwich or Washington time, and the necessary tables, and 
if the weather be clear so that he can see the stars, he can, in 
the course of twenty-four hours tell where he is in latitude and 
longitude within a hundred yards." 

For more than a century the name of Nathaniel Bowditch has 
been known in the forecastle and cabin of every American and 
English ship, and a volume of "The Practical Navigator" is to 
be found in the sea kit of many a youngster who aspires to an 
officer's berth. The book is still one of the foremost authorities 
in its field, a new edition being published by the United States 
Hydrographic Office every three or four years. A multitude 
of landlubbers who have no knowledge of seafaring as a calling 
have heard of " Bowditch " as a name intimately linked with the 
day's work on blue water. At his death in 1838, his fellow 
mariners of the East India Marine Society, of which he had 
been president, spread upon their records a resolution which 
voiced the sentiment of shipmasters in every port and sea: 

297 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" Resolved, That in the death of Nathaniel Bowditch a public, 
a national, a humane benefactor has departed; that not this 
community, nor one nation only, but the whole world has 
reason to do honor to his memory; that when the voice of eulogy 
shall be still, when the tear of sorrow shall cease to flow, no 
monument will be needed to keep alive his memory among 
men, but as long as ships shall sail, the needle point to the 
north, and the stars go through their appointed course in the 
Heavens, the name of Dr. Bowditch will be revered as one who 
helped his fellowmen in time of need, who was and is to them 
a guide over the pathless ocean, and of one who forwarded the 
great interest of mankind." 

This ocean pathfinder of Salem, Nathaniel Bowditch, made 
no important discoveries in the science of navigation, but with 
the intellect and industry of a true mathematical genius, he 
both eliminated the costly errors in the methods of navigation 
used in 1800, and devised much more certain and practicable 
ways of finding a ship's position on the trackless sea. So 
important were the benefits he wrought to increase the safety 
of shipping that when the news of his death was carried abroad, 
the American, English and Russian vessels in the port of Cron- 
stadt half-masted their flags, while at home the cadets of the 
United States Naval School wore an ofiicial badge of mourning, 
and the ships at anchor in the harbors of Boston, New York 
and Baltimore displayed their colors at half-mast. The London 
AtheneuTYi said of " The Practical Navigator," in the days when 
no love was lost between British and American seamen: 

"It goes, both in American and British ships, over every sea 
of the globe, and is probably the best work of the sort ever 
published." 

What Nathaniel Bowditch did w^as to undertake the revision 
of a popular English handbook of navigation by John Hamilton 
Morse in which his acute mind had detected many blunders 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his "'Practical Navigator"" 

which were certain to cause shipwreck and loss of life if mariners 
continued to use the treatise. This work was found to be in 
need of so radical an overhauling that in 1802 Bowditch pub- 
lished it under his own name, having corrected no fewer than 
eight thousand errors in the tables and calculations, including 
such ghastly and incredible mistakes as making 1800 a leap 
year in reckoning the tables of the sun's declination and thereby 
throwing luckless shipmasters as many as twenty-three miles 
out of their true position at sea. It was declared at the time 
that several ships had been lost because of this one error. 

Expert opinion hailed the work of Bowditch with such 
eulogies as the following : 

" It has been pronounced by competent judges to be, in point 
of practical utility, second to no work of man ever published. 
This apparently extravagant estimate of its importance appears 
but just, when we consider the countless millions of treasure 
and of human lives which it has conducted and will conduct in 
safety through the perils of the ocean. But it is not only the 
best guide of the mariner in traversing the ocean ; it is also the 
best instructor and companion everywhere, containing within 
itself a complete scientific library for his study and improvement 
in his profession. Such a work was as worthy of the cultured 
author's mind as it is illustrative of his character, unostenta- 
tious, yet profoundly scientific and thoroughly practical, with 
an effective power and influence of incalculable value." 

At a meeting of the East India Marine Society on May 6, 1801, 
" to examine a work called ' The New American Practical Navi- 
gator,' by Nathaniel Bowditch, a committee of sagacious and 
experienced shipmasters, veterans of the seas beyond the Cape 
of Good Hope and the Horn, submitted the following report: 

"After a full examination of the system of navigation pre- 
sented to the Society by one of its members (Mr. Nathaniel 

299 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Bowditch), they find that he has corrected many thousand 
errors in the best European works of the kind ; especially those 
in the tables for determining the latitude by two altitudes, in 
those of difference of latitude and departure, of the sun's right 
ascension of amplitudes, and many others necessary to the 
navigator. Mr. Bowditch has likewise in many instances 
greatly improved the old methods of calculation, and added 
new ones of his own. That of clearing the apparent distance 
of the moon, and sun or stars from the effects of parallax and 
refraction is peculiarly adapted to the use of seamen in general, 
and is much facilitated (as all other methods are in the present 
work), by the introduction of a proportion table into that of 
the corrections of the moon's altitude. His table nineteenth, 
of corrections to be applied in the lunar calculations has the 
merit of being the only accurate one the committee is acquainted 
with. He has much improved the tables of latitudes and 
longitudes of places and has added those of a number on the 
American coast hitherto very inaccurately ascertained. 

"This work, therefore, is, in the opinion of the committee, 
highly deserving of the approbation and encouragement of the 
Society, not only as being the most correct and ample now 
extant, but as being a genuine American production; and as 
such they hesitate not to recommend it to the attention of 
navigators and of the public at large. 

Jonathan Lambert 

Benjamin Carpenter 

John Osgood ^ Committee 

John Gibant 

Jacob Crowninshield 

"Approved, Benjamin Hodges, President. 
" Moses Townsend, Secretary. 

"Salem, May 13, 1801." 
300 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ^'Practical Navigator"' 

This report is dry reading for the landsman, but it concerned 
matters of the most vital import to many thousand sea captains, 
who later blessed the name of this astronomer and mathe- 
matician of Salem. 

As a shipmaster, Nathaniel Bowditch made a somewhat 
incongruous figure among the sturdy, full-blooded, simple- 
minded seamen of his port and his time. He was an intellectual 
prodigy, a thinking machine, and his tastes were not at all those 
of the practical navigator and trader overseas. He served his 
time at sea, and acquitted himself successfully, largely because 
he was trained for the calling of his father, Habakkuk Bowditch, 
who had begun his career on shipboard. 

The family was in straitened circumstances when Nathaniel 
came into the world in 1773, and his period of schooling was 
exceedingly brief. At the tender age of seven he was sent to a 
Salem "seminary of learning," the master of which drilled his 
pupils' minds by making them spell at frequent intervals that 
uncouth monster of words "honorificabilitudinity." The Bow- 
ditch offspring survived this ordeal and at twelve years was 
apprenticed to a ship chandler. In this tarry environment 
he learned algebra and "could not sleep after his first glance 
at it." An old British sailor taught the lad what he knew of the 
elements of navigation after hours in the ship chandler's shop. 
The precocious love for mathematics had set the lad's brain 
on fire and he reveled in problems which would have baffled 
the wisest old heads of Salem. 

While Nathaniel was still in his teens his ambition received 
a mighty impetus by the discovery of a treasure trove of learning, 
the philosophical library of Dr. Richard Kirwan,* a famous 

* Dr. Richard Kirwan (1733-1812) was born in Clougliball>Tnore, Ireland. 
He was a distinguished investigator and writer in the fields of mineralogy, 
chemistry, and meteorology, a member of the Edinborough Royal Society, the 
Royal Irish Academy, and a number of foreign academies. He received an 
honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Dublin, and declined a bar- 

301 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Irish scientist. This precious collection of abstruse literature 
had come to Salem in a manner highly characteristic of the 
time and place. While cruising off the British coast during the 
Revolution, an audacious privateer of Beverly snapped up a 
merchant vessel and took out her cargo as lawful prize of war. 
Among the plunder was the library of this luckless Doctor 
Kirwan, which he had been in the act of shipping from Ireland 
to England. The privateer came home to Beverly and her 
booty was sold, according to custom. Several gentlemen of 
Salem clubbed together, purchased the books, and used them 
to found the library of the Salem Atheneum, which institution 
lives even unto this day and is housed in a beautiful new building 
of colonial design on Essex Street. 

Nathaniel Bowditch never forgot his youthful obligation to 
this source of learning and wrote in his will: 

"It is well known that the valuable scientific library of the 
celebrated Dr. Richard Kirwan, was during the Revolutionary 
War, captured in the British Channel on its way to Ireland,* 
by a Beverly privateer and that by the liberal and enlightened 
views of the owners of the vessel, the library thus captured was 
sold at a very low rate, and in this manner was laid the founda- 
tion upon which has since been established the Philosophical 

onetcy offered hini by Lord Castlereagh. His works were translated into 
Russian, German and French. The capture of Doctor Kirvvan's Ubrary was a 
misfortune of sufficient importance to find mention in the National Dictionary 
of Biography which relates: 

"In 1776, Kirwan, having conformed to the established church, was called 
to the Irish bar, but threw up his studies after ten years, and pursued scientific 
studies in London, exchanged for Greek at Cregg in 1773. He resided in 
London from 1777 to 1787, and became known to Priestley, Cavendish, Burke, 
and Home Tooke. He corresponded with all the savants of Europe; his 
Wednesday evenings in Newman St. were the resort of strangers of distinction; 
the Empress Catharine of Russia sent him her portrait. His library, dispatched 
from Galway to London on 5th Sept., 1780, was captured by an American 
privateer. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 24th Feb. 1780, he received 
the Copley medal in 1782 for a series of papers on chemical affinity." 

* A probable error of memory as the library was on its way to England 
according to other sources of information. 

302 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ^^ Practical Navigator^' 

Library so-called, and the present Salem Atheneum. Thus in 
early life I found near me a better collection of Philosophical 
and Scientific books than could be found in any other part of 
the United States nearer than Philadelphia, and by the kindness 
of its proprietors I was permitted freely to take the books from 
that library and to consult and study them at pleasure. This 
inestimable advantage has made me deeply a debtor to the 
Salem Atheneum, and I do therefore give to that institution 
the sum of one thousand dollars, the income thereof to be for- 
ever applied to the promotion of its objects, and the extension 
of its usefulness." 

Dr. Richard Kirwan had the shadowy consolation of being 
compelled to furnish enlightenment to this hostile port of Salem, 
but the most important benefit reaped by this singular priva- 
teering adventure was the stimulus it conveyed to the mind of 
young Nathaniel Bowditch. He became wholly submerged in 
the volumes of the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 
Indeed, he copied one book after another, making these manu- 
scripts with infinite pains in order that he might possess them 
and carry them to sea with him. He was in his teens when he 
copied "A complete collection of all the Mathematical Papers 
of the Philosophical Transactions; Extracts from various 
Encyclopedias and from the Memoirs of the Paris Academy; 
a complete copy of Emerson's Mechanics, a copy of Hamilton's 
Conies; extracts from Gravesand's and Martyn's Philosophical 
Treatise; extracts from Bernoulli, etc., etc." 

At the age of seventeen Bowditch began to learn Latin without 
a teacher in order that he might read Newton's Principia, and 
when he was old enough to vote " he was unsurpassed in mathe- 
matical attainments by any one in the Commonwealth." But 
he must needs earn his bread and go to sea, and so in 1795 
Nathaniel made his first voyage as captain's clerk in the Salem 
ship Henry, Captain Prince, to Mauritius. His sea life covered 

303 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a period of nine years, during which he made five voyages, one 
of them to Manila in 1796-7, in the ship Astrea, as supercargo 
with Captain Prince. The Astrea was the first American ship 
to fly the stars and stripes in the harbor of Manila, a fact of 
some historical worth. The American trade to the Orient was 
then in its beginnings and it was Elias Hasket Derby, who, with 
characteristic enterprise, sent the Astrea to Manila in search 
of sugar, pepper and indigo, of which she fetched home a large 
and valuable cargo. 

Nathaniel Bowditch kept a journal of this voyage as was 
required by the laws of the East India Marine Society, 
and his journal, written in a precise and delicate hand, is 
preserved in the Society's collection of records. His impres- 
sions of the capital city of the Philippines in 1797 read in 
part as follows: 

"The city of Manila is about three or four miles in circum- 
ference, is walled all around, and cannon are placed at proper 
intervals, but we were unable to get much information with 
respect to the state of the place, as they were shy of giving any 
information to foreigners. The buildings within the wall are 
all of stone, and none except the churches is more than two 
stories high, on account of the violent earthquakes which they 
generally have at the breaking up of the monsoons. The month 
of March is when they most expect them, but on the fifth of 
November, 1797, we experienced several violent shocks at 
about 2 P. M. which came from the northward, and proceeded 
in a southerly direction, continuing with violence nearly two 
minutes. It threw down a large house half a league from the 
city, untiled several buildings, and did much other damage. 
It was not observed on board the ship lying off the bar. The 
motion of the earthquake was quicker than those usual in 
America, as the latter are generally preceded by a rumbling 
noise; the former was not. 

304 







^^ 



2;, 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ^'Practical Navigator" 

"The suburbs of Manila are very extensive; most of the 
business is done there. The houses of the wealthier class are 
of two stories, built of bamboo with thatched roofs. No house 
can be built in the suburbs without the particular permission 
of the Governor, fearing if they were too high an enemy might 
make use of them, as was the case when the English took the 
place formerly, for one of the churches near the walls was very 
serviceable to them 

"All the women have a little of the Indian blood in their 
veins, except the lady of the Governor and two or three others, 
though by a succession of intermarriages with Europeans they 
have obtained a fair complexion. The natives (like all other 
Malays) are excessively fond of gaming and cock-fighting. 
A theatre is established for the latter business from which the 
government draws an immense revenue, the diversion being 
prohibited at any other place. Sometimes there are five or six 
thousand spectators, each of whom pays half a real. A large 
sum arises from the duties on tobacco and cocoa wine. Tobacco 
is prohibited, but if you smuggle any on shore it cannot be 
sold for more than the ruling cost in America, notwithstanding 
the price is very high. Particular people, licensed by the King, 
are the only persons allowed to deal in it. 

" All the natives chew dreca and betel, though not mixed with 
opium as in Batavia. This with chewing and smoking tobacco 
make their teeth very black. The segars used by the women, 
and which they smoke all day, are made as large as they can 
possibly get into their mouths. The natives are about as 
honest as their neighbors, the Chinese; they stole several things 
from us, but by the goodness of the police we recovered most of 
them. 

" On the second of December, 1797, thieves broke into the 
house where we lived, entered the chamber where Captain 
Prince and myself were asleep, and carried off a bag containing 

305 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

$1,000 without awakening either of us, or any of the crew of the 
longboat sleeping in an adjoining chamber. 

" The guard boat discovered them as they were escaping and 
pursued them. They, in endeavoring to escape, ran afoul of a 
large boat, which, upsetting them, the money went to the 
bottom, and, what was worse, the bag burst and the money 
was all scattered in the mud, where the water was eight feet 
deep. However, by the honesty of the captain of the guard, 
most of it was recovered. The thieves were caught, and, 
when we were there in 1800, Mr. Kerr informed us that they 
had been whipped, and were to be kept in servitude several 
years. 

"The same day another robbery was committed, equally as 
daring. The day the indigo was shipped, the second mate 
came ashore with several of the people to see it safe aboard. 
The boats we had provided, not taking all of it, we sent the 
remainder aboard with a black fellow as a guard, who was 
esteemed by Mr. Kerr as an honest man, but he had been con- 
triving, it seems, to steal a couple of boxes. When the cases 
containing the indigo had passed the bar, a small boat came 
aboard with two boxes filled with chips, stones, etc., appearing 
in every respect like those full of indigo, and, pretending that 
we had put on board two wrong boxes, they exchanged their 
boxes for two real boxes of indigo, but, in bringing them ashore, 
they were detected and the indigo returned. 

" There are great numbers of Chinese at Manila. It is from 
them most of the indigo is purchased. They trade considerably 
with China; their junks arrive at Manila in January, and all 
their goods are deposited in the custom-house. Some of these 
cargoes are valued at a million of dollars, the duties on which 
amounted to nearly $100,000. The Chinese at Manila retain 
all the customs of their country, excepting those respecting 
religion and a few other things of small moment." 

306 




Captain Benjamiii Carpenter of the Hercules, 1792 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his ''Practical Navigator" 

When the Astrea arrived at Manila on this voyage, Captain 
Prince was asked by another shipmaster how he contrived to 
find his way in the face of the northeast monsoon by dead 
reckoning. He replied that "he had a crew of twelve men, 
every one of whom could take and work a lunar observation, as 
well for all practical purposes, as Sir Isaac Newton himself, 
if he were alive." 

During this dialogue Nathaniel Bowditch, the supercargo, 
who had taught these sailors their navigation while at sea, " sat 
as modest as a maid, saying not a word but holding his slate 
pencil in his mouth," according to Captain Prince who also 
used to relate that "another person remarked there was more 
knowledge of navigation on board that ship than ever there 
was in all the vessels that have floated in Manila Bay." 

During his seafaring years this singular mariner, Nathaniel 
Bowditch, learned French thoroughly, and studied Italian, 
Portuguese and Spanish. One who sailed with him said, "all 
caught a zeal to learn on board his ships. The whole crew of 
twelve men on board the Astrea later became captains, first and 
second mates. At sea his practice was to rise at a very early 
hour in the morning, and pursue his studies till breakfast, 
immediately after which he took a rapid walk for half an hour, 
and then went below to his studies till half-past eleven o'clock, 
when he returned and walked till twelve o'clock, the hour at 
which he commenced his meridian observations. Then came 
dinner, after which he was engaged in his studies till five o'clock; 
then he walked till tea time, and after tea was at his studies 
till nine o'clock in the evening. From this hour till half-past 
ten o'clock he appeared to have banished all thought of study, 
and while walking he would converse in the most lively manner, 
giving us useful information, intermixed with amusing anec- 
dotes, and hearty laughs, making the time delightful to the 
officers who walked with him, and who had to quicken their 

307 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

pace to accompany him. Whenever the heavenly bodies were 
in distance to get the longitude, night or day, he was sure to 
make his observations once and frequently twice in every 
twenty-four hours, always preferring to make them by the 
moon and stars on account of his eyes. He was often seen on 
deck at other times, walking rapidly and apparently in deep 
thought, when it was well understood by all on board that he 
was not to be disturbed, as we supposed he was solving some 
difficult problem. And when he darted below the conclusion 
was that he had got the idea. If he was in the fore part of the 
ship when the idea came to him, he would actually run to the 
cabin, and his countenance would give the expression that he 
had found a prize." 

In keeping with this picture is the story of Bowditch's behavior 
when during his third voyage, from Cadiz to Alicante, his ship 
was chased by a French privateer. The Yankee captain de- 
cided to make a fight of it and Bowditch was assigned to hand 
powder on deck from the magazine. One of the officers, going 
below after the vessel had been cleared for action found the 
supercargo sitting on a keg of powder with his slate in his lap, 
absorbed in making calculations. 

Nathaniel Bowditch had made the sea serve him, both to 
gain a livelihood and to test his theories of practical navigation 
for the benefit of his fellow seamen. But he did not consider 
"The Practical Navigator" to be an achievement by which his 
intellectual powers should be measured. His magnus opus, 
the fond labor of his best years was the translation and commen- 
tary of the monumental work of the great French astronomer. 
La Place, entitled "Mecanique Celeste^' (Celestial Mechanics), 
So much of his own learning appeared in his exhaustive notes 
that the American edition of four volumes was a lasting memo- 
rial to the industry, knowledge and researches of Nathaniel Bow- 
ditch, and was the foremost American achievement in scientific 

308 



Jct-rrj , "'" .J^.rf/V»r, 




lt/^,i ,- GlX GIK_\M o?i ti>. 



e Malasak c O.I ST. 










I 



■/J^nio.j^- 



From tlie log of the Hereides, showing the beautiful penmanship with which 
Captain Carpenter adorned his sea journals 



Nathaniel Bowditch and his "Practical Navigator** 

letters during the early nineteenth century. It won a solid 
fame for Nathaniel Bowditch, both at home and abroad. Where 
one American, however, has heard of his edition of Mecanique 
Celeste, a thousand have studied the pages of his "Practical 
Navigator," which is a living book to-day. 

Shortly after he retired from the sea. Doctor Bowditch was 
elected president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Com- 
pany and continued in that office until 1823, declining pro- 
fessorships at Harvard, West Point and the University of 
Virginia. In 1823 he was persuaded to move his residence to 
Boston as actuary of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance 
Society which position he held until his death in 1836. A self- 
taught scientist, a notable benefactor of mankind, Nathaniel 
Bowditch was with singular fitness, a son of Salem in the days 
when its splendid race of navigators were his fellow-townsmen. 
He loved the storied seaport in which he was born, and he was 
generally beloved for those very genuine qualities characteristic 
of the shipmasters among whom he lived. There was a rare 
simplicity and an absence of all false pride in the reasons which 
he gave to his executors for making a bequest to the Salem 
Marine Society. 

"He told us, and all our children," his sons wrote to the 
officers of the society, "at the time of executing his will that his 
father, Habakkuk Bowditch, for nearly twenty years received 
from your charity fund the annual sum of fifteen dollars or 
thereabouts, so that his own food and clothing when a boy 
were in part derived from this source. Under these circum- 
stances, we felt with him, that he had incurred a debt of grati- 
tude toward your society which justified and indeed required 
from him an acknowledgement in return." 



309 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE VOYAGES OF NATHANIEL SILSBEE* 

(1792-1800) 

NEITHER myself nor the chief mate of the ship for that 
voyage (Mr. Charles Derby) had attained the age of 
twenty-one years when we left home. I was not then 
twenty years of age, and it was remarked by the naval officer on 
taking the ship's papers from the Custom House that it was the 
first instance in which papers had been issued from that office 
to a vessel bound to the East Indies, the captain and chief mate 
of which were both minors." 

This is what young Nathaniel Silsbee was able to record of 
the year 1792 when he took command of the new ship Berijamin, 
one hundred and sixty-one tons, laden with a costly cargo of 
merchandise and bound out from Salem for the Cape of Good 
Hope and India, "with such instructions as left the manage- 
ment of the voyage very much to my own discretion." It was 
only four years earlier than this that the Salem ship Atlantic 
had flown the first American flag ever seen in the harbors of 
Bombay and Calcutta, and the route to those distant seas was 
still unfamiliar to these pioneers who swept round the Cape 
of Good Hope to explore new channels of trade on the other 
side of the world. 



* Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. XXXV, Jan., 1889. 
Biographical Notes : By Nathaniel Silsbee. (A paper written by him, " for 
the perusal of his family," between 1836 and 1850, and from which most of 
the material for this chapter was obtained.) 

310 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

In these latter times a nineteen-year-old lad of good family 
is probably a college freshman without a shadow of responsi- 
bility, and whose only business care has to do with the allowance 
provided by a doting parent. He is a boy, and is ranked as 
such. When our forefathers were creating a merchant marine 
whose achievements form one of the finest pages of American 
history, seafaring lads were men at twenty, ruling their quarter- 
decks and taming the rude company of their forecastles by 
weight of their own merits in brains and pluck and resourceful- 
ness. 

Nathaniel Silsbee, a captain in the India trade at nineteen, 
was not a remarkably precocious mariner a century and more 
ago. He could say of his ow n family : 

" Connected with the seafaring life of myself and my brothers, 
there were some circumstances which do not usually occur in one 
family. In the first place each of us commenced that occupation 
in the capacity of clerk, myself at the age of fourteen years ; my 
brother William at about fifteen, and my brother Zachariah at 
about sixteen and a half years of age. Each and all of us ob- 
tained the command of vessels and the consignment of their 
cargoes before attaining the age of twenty years, viz., myself 
at the age of eighteen and a half, my brother William at nine- 
teen and a half, and my brother Zachariah before he was twenty 
years old. Each and all of us left off going to sea before reach- 
ing the age of twenty-nine years, viz., myself at twenty-eight 
and a half; William at twenty-eight, and Zachariah at twenty- 
eight and a half years." 

In other words, these three brothers of Salem had made their 
fortunes before they were thirty years old and were ready to 
stay ashore as merchants and shipowners, backed by their own 
capital. A splendid veteran of their era, Robert Bennet Forbes 
of Boston pictured his very similar experience in this manner: 

"At this time of my life (1834), at the age of thirty, I had 

311 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

become gray and imagined myself approaching old age. I had 
attained the summit of my ambition. I was what was then 
thought to be comfortably off in worldly goods; I had retired 
from the sea professionally and had become a merchant; I had 
contributed something toward the comfort of my mother; I 
had paid off large debts contracted in building my ship, and 
I began to think more of myself than I ever had done. Look- 
ing back to 1824 when I was content in the command of a 
little ship of 264 tons, on a salary of six hundred dollars per 
annum, I conceded that I had arrived at the acme of my 
hopes. I had been blessed with success far beyond my most 
ardent expectations. 

"Beginning in 1817, with a capital consisting of a Testament, 
a 'Bowditch,' quadrant, chest of sea clothes and a mother's 
blessing, I left the paternal mansion full of hope and good 
resolution, and the promise of support from my uncles. At the 
age of sixteen I filled a man's place as third mate; at the age of 
twenty I was promoted to a command ; at the age of twenty-six 
I commanded my own ship; at twenty-eight I abandoned the 
sea as a profession, and at thirty-six was at the head of the 
largest American house in China." 

Nathaniel Silsbee, therefore, was in tune with the time he 
lived in when at fourteen he embarked on his first voyage, from 
Salem to Baltimore as a captain's clerk in a small schooner. 
His father had been an owner of several vessels in the West 
India trade, but losses at sea and other commercial misfortunes 
compelled him to take the boy from school and launch him in 
the business of seafaring. Three voyages in a coaster were fol- 
lowed by several months of idleness during which he "was 
uneasy and somewhat impatient" until a chance was offered to 
ship as supercargo of the brig Three Sisters bound on one of the 
first American voyages around the Cape of Good Hope in the 
winter of 1788. His wages for that voyage were five dollars a 

312 



,/£.9^7^e^ ^ <^-<%) J'tin^^t-^n^a t/^.o^/t e^ 



<^-»t.-A;*i.^<v«i o 







"proV<-f^'''fSan<ad'nii'i.rre»<T^<';'''- '■'^'^'''f''^/f^'^^^_ 







/rt'^- s 









f <o^5'^ V?-!"^ Z/affT-/rO 7 y >"Z7-. 






^/, ^,, ... ,/ .. v/ / ^,. f yy . , , , 










,//,./ 
y ../...,. 



f" 



Pages from the log of the shij) Hercules, MQ'i, remarkable for the beauty of their 

draftsmanship in pen and ink. These drawings were made 

in the log while at sea 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

month, and all the property which his father could furnish as 
an "adventure" or private speculation, was six boxes of codfish 
worth eighteen dollars, " most of which perished on the outward 
passage." 

The Three Sisters went to Batavia, thence to China where she 
was sold, and her crew came home in another Salem ship, the 
Astrea. Young Silsbee studied navigation in his spare time at 
sea, and gained much profit from the instruction of the captain. 
His strenuous boyhood seems remote in time when one finds in 
his memoirs that " while absent on that voyage the present con- 
stitution and form of the government of the United States which 
had been recommended by a convention of delegates from the 
several states, held in 1787, was adopted by eleven of the then 
thirteen United States, and went into operation on the fourth 
day of March, 1789, with George Washington, as President and 
John Adams as Vice-President of the United States." 

A week after his return from China Nathaniel was setting out 
with his father in a thirty-ton schooner for a coasting trip to 
Penobscot, these two with brother William comprising the ship's 
company. They made a successful trading voyage, after which 
the youthful sailor sailed to Virginia as captain's clerk. He was 
now seventeen, a tough and seasoned stripling ready to do a 
man's work in all weathers. At this age he obtained a second 
mate's berth on a brig bound to Madeira. When she returned 
to Salem he was offered the command of her, considerably in 
advance of his eighteenth birthday. The death of his mother 
recalled him to Salem and deferred his promotion. 

In the same year, however, we find him captain of a sloop and 
off to the West Indies with specie and merchandise. The boyish 
skipper was put to the test, for a succession of furious gales 
racked his vessel so that she was sinking under his feet, and he 
"endured such incessant and intense anxiety as prevented my 
having a single moment of sound sleep for thirteen entire days 

313 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and nights." He made a West Indian port, however, and his 
vessel was declared unseaworthy by a survey of shipmasters 
and carpenters. "At a somewhat later age," he confesses and 
you like him for it, "I should probably have acceded to that 
decision and abandoned the vessel, but I then determined other- 
wise, caused some repairs to be made on the vessel, which I 
knew to be entirely uninsured, invested the funds in West 
India produce, and proceeded therewith to Norfolk, and thence 
to Salem where the vessel was considered unfit for another 
voyage, and where I had the good fortune to be immediately 
offered by the same owner the charge of a brig and cargo for 
the West Indies." 

It was after this next voyage that Captain Silsbee, veteran 
mariner that he was at nineteen, was given the ship Benjamin 
already mentioned. In those early foreign voyages of one and 
two years duration, the captain was compelled to turn his hand 
to meet an infinite variety of emergencies. But he usually 
fought or blundered a way through with flying colors, impelled 
by his indomitable confidence in himself and the need of the 
occasion. This young shipmaster of ours had somehow quali- 
fied himself as a rough-and-ready surgeon, or at least he was 
able to place one successful and difficult operation to his credit. 
He was already living up to the advice of another New England 
mariner whose code of conduct was: "Always go straight for- 
ward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between 
the pieces." This is how Captain Silsbee rose to the occasion: 

" In an intensely cold and severe storm on the first night after 
leaving home, our cook (a colored man somewhat advanced 
in age) having preferred his cooking-house on deck to his berth 
below for a sleeping place, had his feet so badly frozen as to 
cause gangreen to such an extent as to render amputation of all 
his toes on both feet absolutely necessary for the preservation 
of his life. Having neither surgical skill nor surgical instru- 

314 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

ments on board the ship, the operation was a very unpleasant 
and hazardous one, so much so that no one on board was wil- 
Hng to undertake the direction of it. I was most reluctantly 
compelled to assume, with the aid of the second mate, the re- 
sponsibility of performing the surgical operation with no other 
instruments than a razor and a pair of scissors, and which, in 
consequence of the feeble state of the cook's health required 
two days to accomplish. 

" The cook was very desirious to be landed and left at one of 
the Cape de Verde Islands, and for that purpose I proceeded to 
the Island of St. Jago, where I found an English frigate at 
anchor. Her surgeon came on board our ship at my request 
and examined the cook's feet and to my great satisfaction, pro- 
nounced the operation well performed, assured me that there 
remained no doubt of his recovery, and advised me by all means 
to keep him on board ship under my own care in preference to 
putting him ashore. With the cook's approbation I followed 
the surgeon's advice and in the course of a few weeks the cook 
was able to resume his duties, recovered his usual health and 
made several subsequent voyages." 

After dispatching the business of the cook, the boy skipper 
proved his ability as a merchant of quick adaptability and 
sound judgment. While on the passage from the Cape of Good 
Hope to the Isle of France (Mauritius) he fell in with a French 
frigate which gave him news of the beginning of war between 
France and England. When this news reached the Isle of 
France prices rose by leaps and bounds and the cargo of the 
Benjamin was promptly sold at a profit that dazzled her com- 
mander. As fast as payments were made he turned the paper 
currency into Spanish dollars. Then for six months an embargo 
was laid on all foreign vessels in port. Captain Silsbee sat on 
his quarter deck and refused to worry. During this time in 
which his ship lay idle, his Spanish dollars increased to three 

315 



The Shijjs and Sailors of Old Salem 

times the value of the paper money for which he had shrewdly 
exchanged them, while for lack of an outlet the products of the 
island had not advanced in cost. 

He therefore abandoned his plan of keeping on to Calcutta, 
sold his Spanish dollars, loaded his ship with coffee and spices 
at the Isle of France, and made a bee line for Salem. He pro- 
ceded no farther than the Cape of Good Hope, however, where 
he scented another opportunity to fatten his owner's pockets. 
" I found the prospect of a profitable voyage from thence back 
to the Isle of France to be such," said he, "that I could not 
consistently with what I conceived to be my duty to my em- 
ployer, (although no such project could have been anticipated 
by him, and although attended with considerable risk) resist 
the temptation to undertake it. At that time the Cape of Good 
Hope was held by the Dutch who had joined England in the 
then existing war against France, and it so happened that I 
was the only master of a foreign vessel then in port of whom 
a bond had not been required not to proceed from thence to a 
French port. . . . There being two other Salem vessels 
in port by which I could send home a part of my cargo, I put 
on board those vessels such portion of my cargo as I knew would 
considerably more than pay for the whole cost of my ship and 
cargo at Salem, sold the residue of the merchandise, and in- 
vested the proceeds in a full cargo of wine and other articles 
which I knew to be in great demand in those islands." 

At the Isle of France the captain sold this cargo for three 
times its cost, and again loaded for Salem. When he was 
almost ready to sail, it was reported that another embargo was 
to be laid forthwith. Hastily putting to sea he was obliged to 
anchor at Bourbon next day to take on provisions. Here he 
had a rather mystifying experience which he related thus: 

" Just as I was about stepping from the wharf into my boat 
the French Governor of the island ordered me to his presence, 

316 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

which order I obeyed with strong apprehensions that some 
restraint was to be put upon me. On meeting the Governor he 
asked me, 'How long do you contemplate staying in Bourbon?' 
My answer was, 'Not more than a day or two.' 'Can't you 
leave here to-night?' he asked. I replied, 'If you wish it.' He 
then added, 'As you had the politeness to call on me this morn- 
ing, and as I should be sorry to see you injured, hearken to my 
advice and leave here to-night if possible.' He cautioned me 
to secrecy, and I was in my boat and on board my ship as soon 
as possible after leaving him. There was a war-brig at anchor 
in a harbor a little to windward of my own vessel ; toward mid- 
night I had the anchor hove up without noise, and let the ship 
adrift without making any sail until by the darkness of the 
night we had lost sight of the war-brig, when we made all sail 
directly from the land. At daylight the war-brig was sent in 
pursuit of us, under a press of sail but fortunately could not 
overtake us, and toward night gave up the chase." 

The Benjavfiin arrived at Salem after a voyage of nineteen 
months. Nathaniel Silsbee had earned for his employer, Elias 
Hasket Derby, a net profit of more than one hundred per cent, 
upon the cost of the ship and cargo. The captain was given five 
per cent, of the outw^ard, and ten per cent, of the value of the 
return cargo, as his share for the voyage besides his wages, and 
he landed in Salem with four thousand dollars as his perquisites, 
"which placed me in a condition to gratify the most anxious 
and at that time almost the only wish of my heart, which was 
to increase and secure the comforts of my mother, sisters and 
brothers." And one of his first acts was to purchase the house 
and land formerly owned by his father, at a cost of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars and placed the whole of it at his mother's disposal. 

Being now twenty-one years old, and with a capital of two 
thousand dollars to risk as an "adventure" of his own account, 
Captain Silsbee took the Benjamin to Amsterdam, bound for 

317 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

India, with a cargo double the value of his first venture in her. 
He carried with him as clerk his brother William, aged fifteen, 
and furnished him with a sum of money as an " adventure " for 
his own account. Again the Isle of France lured him from the 
path to the Indies, and he sold his cargo there for " enormously 
high prices." The young merchant navigator was so rapidly 
finding himself that he loaded his own ship and sent her home 
in command of her mate and then bought at the Isle of France 
another ship of four hundred tons for ten thousand dollars out 
of his employer's funds. She was a new vessel, the prize of a 
French privateer and proved a good investment. Loading her 
with coffee and cotton and shipping a new crew he sailed for 
Salem in the wake of the Benjamin. 

This homeward voyage was varied by an episode of such 
frequent occurrence in that era that it was commonplace. "A 
short time before our arrival in Boston," Captain Silsbee re- 
lated, "we were for two days in company with and a few miles 
from a schooner which we suspected to be a privateer watching 
for a favorable opportunity to attack us. Having on board the 
ship six guns and twenty-five men, I was determined to resist, 
as far as practicable the attack of any small vessel. On the 
afternoon of the second day that this vessel had been dogging 
us, she bore down upon us with the apparent intention of ex- 
ecuting what we had supposed to be her purpose, which we 
were, as I imagined, prepared to meet. But on calling the 
crew to quarters, I was informed by one of my officers that there 
were four or five seamen who were unwilling thus to expose 
themselves, alleging that they had neither engaged nor expected 
to fight. 

"On hearing this, all hands being on deck, I ordered every 
passage-way which led below deck to be securely fastened ; then 
calling to me such of the crew as had not engaged to fight, I im- 
mediately sent them up the shrouds to repair the ratlin and to 

318 




Captain Nathaniel Silsbee. 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

perform other duties which they had engaged to do, in the most 
exposed part of the ship. Finding themselves thus exposed to 
greater danger than their shipmates, they requested, before the 
schooner had come in gunshot of us, to be recalled from their 
situation and allowed to participate in the defense of the ship, 
which request was granted. All our six guns were placed on 
one side of the ship, and we succeeded by a simultaneous dis- 
charge of the whole of them, as soon as the schooner had ap- 
proached within reach of their contents, in causing her to haul 
off, and hasten from us." 

Captain Silsbee was handling his employers' ventures so 
shrewdly that his own shares in the cargoes was amounting to 
what seemed to him a small fortune. At twenty-two years of 
age, in 1795, he was able to purchase one-fourth part of a new 
ship called the Betsy. In this vessel as commander he sailed to 
Madras, Malaysia and Calcutta and returned after an absence 
of seventeen months. While at INIadras he was a witness of 
and an actor in an incident of the kind which directly led to 
the second war between America and Great Britain, a colli- 
sion at that time only sixteen years away. He tells it in these 
words, which clearly portray the lawless impressment of Amer- 
ican seamen which was in operation on every sea. 

" I received a note early one morning from my chief mate that 
one of my sailors, Edward Hulen, a fellow townsman whom I 
had known from boyhood, had been impressed and taken on 
board of a British frigate then lying in port. Receiving this 
intelligence I immediately went on board my ship and having 
there learned all the facts in the case, proceded to the frigate, 
where I found Hulen and in his presence was informed by the 
first lieutenant of the frigate that he had taken Hulen from my 
ship under a peremptory order from his commander to visit 
every American ship in port and take from each of them one 
or more of their seamen.' With that information I returned 

319 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to the shore and called upon Captain Cook, who commanded 
the frigate, and sought first by all the persuasive means that 
I was capable of using and ultimately by threats to appeal 
to the Government of the place to obtain Hulen's release, but 
in vain. I then, with the aid of the senior partner of one of 
the first commercial houses of the place, sought the inter- 
ference and assistance of the civil authorities of Madras, but 
without success, it being a case in which they said they could 
not interfere. 

" In the course of the day I went again to the frigate and in the 
presence of the lieutenant, tendered to Hulen the amount of his 
wages, of which he requested me to give him only ten dollars 
and to take the residue to his mother in Salem, on hearing which 
the lieutenant expressed his perfect conviction that Hulen was 
an American citizen, accompanied by a strong assurance that 
if it was in his power to release him he should not suffer another 
moment's detention, adding at the same time that he doubted 
if this or any other circumstance would induce Captain Cook 
to permit his return to my ship. 

"It remained for me only to recommend Hulen to that pro- 
tection of the lieutenant which a good seaman deserves, and to 
submit to the high-handed insult thus offered to the flag of my 
country which I had no means of either preventing or resisting, 
beyond the expression of my opinion to Captain Cook in the 
presence of his officers, and in terms dictated by the excited state 
of my feelings. After several years detention in the British 
Navy and after the Peace of Amiens, Hulen returned to Salem 
and lived to perform services on board privateers armed in 
Salem in the late war between this country and England." 

The extraordinary hazards of maritime commerce in the 
last years of the eighteenth century are emphasized in the story 
of the voyages made by Captain Silsbee to the Mediterranean in 
his next ship, the Portland, of which he owned one third. In 

320 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silshee 

the winter of 1797, he sailed from Boston with "brother William" 
as second mate, and stopping at Cadiz, learned of the decrees of 
the French government which made liable to condemnation 
every vessel of whatever nation, on board of which might be 
found any articles of the production or manufacture of Great 
Britain or any of its territories. While these decrees greatly 
increased the risk of capture in the Mediterranean, they also 
vastly enhanced the prices of Colonial merchandise. It seemed 
a commercial gamble worth the risk and Nathaniel Silsbee de- 
termined to make for Genoa or Leghorn. First, however, he 
erased from his nautical instruments the name of their English 
maker, put on shore a quantity of English coke from the cook's 
galley, and weeded out everything else which could be considered 
as having a British pedigree. 

He was no more than five days from Cadiz when a French 
privateer brig from Marseilles captured and carried the Portland 
into Malaga. The harbor was filled with American and other 
foreign vessels all flying the French flag, a depressing picture 
for the Salem crew. Every one of the vessels with their cargoes 
was condemned by the French, except the good ship Portland, 
Nathaniel Silsbee, master. His escape was due to his own bull- 
dog persistence and resolute bearing in this grave crisis of his 
fortunes. 

After anchoring at Malaga no boat was allowed to approach 
his ship, nor was he allowed to go ashore or to communicate 
with anyone until a day had passed. Then he was taken ashore, 
under guard of a squad of French soldiers, to the oflSce of the 
French consul. The owner and commander of the privateer 
were present, and, single-handed, the American shipmaster was 
questioned in the most minute manner regarding every article 
of merchandise on board his vessel. Where were they pro- 
duced? How and by whom imported into the United States? 
How came they into the possession of the owners of his ship? 

321 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

In his recollection of this extraordinary interview Captain 
Silsbee stated: 

"And I was commanded by that mighty man, for at that 
time the French consul held the Spanish authorities of the 
place in as much subjection as he did the humblest domestic, 
to answer each and all his lengthy and precise interrogatories 
in 'five words.' . . . 

" After the examination was closed the record of it was placed 
with the ship's papers on the shelves of the consular ofiice with 
similar papers appertaining to thirty or forty other vessels then 
under sequestration. At about eleven o'clock at night I was 
informed that I might return to my ship in charge of the same 
guard which brought me ashore. I then asked the Consul 
when I might expect his decision upon my case. He said the 
decision must be 'in turn,' and that as there were many cases 
before mine, which would require possibly two or three months, 
but certainly not less than one month, mine could not be de- 
cided short of that time. . . . After some disputation upon 
that point I told the Consul that I would not leave his office, 
unless taken from thence by force, until his decision was made. 
Toward midnight the Consul and his clerk, together with the 
owner and ofiicer of the privateer, went out of the oflBce, leaving 
me there in charge of two porters and a watcliman with whom I 
remained during that night, and saw nothing more of the Con- 
sul until about 9 o'clock in the morning. He expressed some 
surprise at finding me there, and asked if I could give him a 
written order to my officers directing them and the crew to 
assist in unclosing such parts of the cargo as would enable a 
survey which he would immediately appoint." 

The Yankee skipper cheerfully complied with this encourag- 
ing request, but stood by his guns in the consular office, nor 
did he budge until after a siege of twenty-four hours. He then 
deserted his post only to seek a notary under guard and enter a 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

formal protest. Late in this second day the French consul re- 
ported that the survey showed every article of the cargo to be 
a production of British colonies, and therefore damned beyond 
repeal. Silsbee ingenuously replied that he had expected such 
a verdict but that along with other false statements, he begged 
leave to ask whether mace was considered the product of a 
British colony.? This appeared to stagger the Consul, and 
Silsbee sought his bench and prepared to spend another night 
in the office. At nine o'clock in the evening the harassed 
Consul capitulated, handed the ship's papers to the master and 
told him to take his ship and go to the devil with her, or any- 
where else he pleased. 

Although he had been forty hours without sleep, the happy 
victor hastened to make ready for sea and escape from Napo- 
leon's clutches as soon as ever he could. Head winds baffled 
him, however, and while waiting at anchor he called to see 
the American consul whom he had not been permitted to visit 
or send for during his detention. So astonished was the repre- 
sentative of our infant republic that he refused to accept the 
word of the captain until he had seen the French consul in con- 
firmation. It seemed preposterous that this Salem younker 
could have slipped out of the trap while a dozen or more Ameri- 
can ships had been waiting for weeks and months doomed to 
condemnation. The Frenchman privately admitted that "the 
apparent determination of this terrible fellow not to leave his 
office until his case was decided, had not been without some 
effect on the time and character of his decision." 

It was out of the frying pan into the fire, for soon after reach- 
ing Genoa, a French army entered that port, declared an em- 
bargo, and began to fit out one fleet of the expedition which w^as 
to carry Napoleon's legions to Egypt. The Generals in charge 
hired such vessels as they could and requisitioned such others as 
they wanted to use as transports. The Portland being the best 

323 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and most comfortably fitted ship at Genoa, was selected, with- 
out the consent of her captain, for the transport of the Staff of 
the Army. Captain Silsbee failed to appreciate this honor, and 
after trying in vain to effect a release, decided to try to bribe 
his way clear. He had carried from home sufficient salt beef 
and pork for an India voyage, and he accidentally learned that 
the Bonaparte expedition was in great need of salted meat for 
the transports. 

With sound strategy, Captain Silsbee had forty barrels of 
" salt horse " conveyed by night to a secure hiding place several 
miles beyond the outskirts of the city. Then he called upon 
the French General and asked him if he did not want to buy 
some provisions for the fleet. 

"He answered affirmatively," wrote Captain Silsbee, "and 
added, 'you know it is in my power to take it at my own price.' 
I told him he should have every barrel of it at his own price, or 
even without price, if he would release my ship, that those were 
the terms, and the only terms on which he could or would have it. 
The general angrily threatened to take my provisions and 
make me regret having insulted him. Two days later he sent 
an order for me to appear before him which I did, when he de- 
manded me to ' inform him promptly ' where my forty barrels 
of provisions were, intimating a doubt of my having it, as his 
officers had not been able to find it. I told the General very 
frankly that if the ship which I commanded belonged wholly 
to myself, I might have felt not only willing but highly gratified 
to convey a part of the Staff of such an army on such an expedi- 
tion, but that a large part of the ship and the proceeds of a valu- 
able cargo belonged to other persons who had entrusted their 
property to my charge. . . . That avowal from me was 
met by a threat from the General to coerce me not only into 
a delivery of the provisions, but to the performance of any and 
every duty which he might assign to me; not only the ship, but 

324 



The Voyages of Nathujiiel Silsbee 

likewise her captain, officers and crew had been placed under 
requisition by the French Republic; a requisition not to be frus- 
trated, he said, by any human being, while a subaltern officer 
who was present added with enthusiasm, ' Yes, sir, suppose God 
had one ship here, and the French wanted it. He must give it.'" 

The Salem seafarer gave not an inch, but declared that a 
release of the ship was the only price which would drag the 
"salt horse" from its hiding place. On the following day, 
the General sent word that he was ready to yield to these terms. 
Napoleon's veterans could not get along without salt pork, and 
Captain Silsbee triumphantly dragged his forty barrels into 
town. His ship was restored to him, the General even prom- 
ised to pay for the stores, and the hero very rightly summed it 
up, " I could not but consider that a more beneficial disposal of 
forty barrels of beef and pork had probably never been made 
than in this instance." 

During the two years following Nathaniel Silsbee stayed 
ashore in order to promote his rapidly growing commercial 
ventures. He became tired of the inactivity of life on land, 
however, and in 1800 bought part of the ship Herald and 
loaded her for India with a crew of thirty men and ten guns. 
His memoranda of that voyage affords a fresh insight into the 
business methods of a typical Salem shipmaster of the old 
school. The Herald sailed " with a stock of sixty-three thousand 
dollars in specie and merchandise, and with credits authorizing 
drafts on England or the United States for about forty thousand 
dollars, making together over one hundred thousand dollars, 
which at that time was considered a very large stock. Of this, 
as in my previous voyages to India I furnished, besides my in- 
terest as owner of one fourth part of the vessel and cargo, five 
per cent, of the cost of the outward cargo, for which I was to 
take ten per cent, of the return cargo at the close of the voyage 
as my compensation for transacting the business thereof." 

325 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

The master's account of that voyage contains some spirited 
passages. He took with him his other brother, Zachariah, who 
was now sixteen years old and eager to follow in the elder's foot- 
steps. He left Calcutta in company with four other iVmerican 
ships with the captains of which he had entered into an agree- 
ment to keep company until they should have passed the south- 
ern part of Ceylon. Each of these ships carried from eight 
to twelve guns and sailing in fleet formation they expected to be 
able to defend themselves against the several French privateers 
which were known to be cruising in the Bay of Bengal. Of this 
squadron of American Indiamen Captain Nathaniel Silsbee, 
now an elderly man of twenty-seven, was designated as the 
Commodore. 

" On the morning of the third day of November," as he tells 
it, "two strange sails were discovered a few leagues to wind- 
ward of us, one of which was soon recognized to be the East 
India Company's packet ship Cornwallis of eighteen guns, 
which had left the river Hoogly at the same time with us. At 
about eight o'clock, A. M., the other ship stood toward the 
Cornwallis, soon after which the latter bore down upon us 
under full sail, commencing at the same time a running fight 
with the other ship which then displayed French colors. We 
soon perceived that they were both plying their sweeps very 
briskly, that the Frenchman's grape was making great havoc 
on the Cornwallis, and that the crew of the latter ship had cut 
away her boats and were throwing overboard their ballast and 
other articles for the purpose of lightening their ship and thereby 
facilitating their escape. The sea was perfectly smooth, and 
the wind very light, so much so that it was quite mid-day before 
either of the ships was within gunshot. By this time we five 
American ships were in a close line, our decks cleared of a large 
stock of poultry, (which with their coops could be seen for a 
considerable distance around us) and every preparation made 



The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee 

to defend ourselves to the extent of our ability. This display of 
resistance on our part seemed to be quite disregarded by the 
pursuing ship, and she continued steering directly for my own 
ship which was in the center of the fleet, until she was fully and 
fairly within gunshot, when my own guns were first opened 
upon her, which were instantly followed by those of each and 
all of the other four ships. 

"When the matches were applied to our guns, the French 
ship was plying her sweeps, and with studding-sails on both 
sides, coming directly upon us; but when the smoke of our 
guns, caused by repeated broadsides from each of our ships, had 
so passed off as to enable us to see her distinctly, she was close 
upon the wind and going from us. The captain of the Corn- 
wallis which was then within hailing distance, expressed a wish 
to exchange signals with us, and to keep company while the 
French ship was in sight. She was known by him to be La 
Gloire, a privateer of twenty-two nine-pounders and four hun- 
dred men. His request was complied with and he having lost 
all his boats, I went on board his ship where our signals were 
made known to him and where were the officers of the Corn- 
wallis, who acknowledged the protection which we had afforded 
them in the most grateful terms. The Cormvallis continued 
with us two days, in the course of which the privateer approached 
us several times in the night, but finding that we were awake, 
hauled off and after the second night we saw no more of her." 

At the close of this voyage, in his twenty-eighth year. Captain 
Nathaniel Silsbee was able to say that he had " so far advanced 
his pecuniary means as to feel that another voyage might and 
probably would enable him to retire from the sea and to change 
his condition on shore." He married the daughter of George 
Crowninshield and began to build up a solid station in life as 
one of the most promising merchants and citizens of Salem. 
He had launched his two younger brothers in life and they were 

327 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

masters of fine ships in the India trade " with as fair prospects 
of success as young men thus situated could hope for." 

He made only one long voyage after he had his own home 
and fireside, but his interests were weaving to and fro between 
Salem port and the faraway harbors of the Orient, the South 
Seas and Europe. The Embargo Acts of 1808 and 1812 oc- 
casioned him heavy losses, but these were somewhat repaid 
by the success of the privateers in which Nathaniel Silsbee 
is recorded as holding shares. 

By 1815, he had risen to such prominence as a representative 
American merchant that he was named by the United States 
Government as one of the commissioners to organize the Bos- 
ton branch of the "Bank of the United States." He became 
one of the Massachusetts delegation to Congress, and was a 
United States Senator from 1826 to 1835, representing his state 
in company with Daniel Webster. 

Dying in 1850, Nathaniel Silsbee left bequeathed to his home 
town the memory of his own life as a tribute to the sterling 
worth and splendid Americanism of the old-time shipmasters 
of Salem. Trader and voyager to the Indies as a captain in 
his teens, retired with a fortune won from the sea before he was 
thirty, playing the man in many immensely trying and hazard- 
ous situations, this one-time Senator from Massachusetts was 
a product of the times he lived in. 



328 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE VOYAGES OF CAPTAIN RICHARD CLEVELAND 

(1791-1820) 

PERHAPS the finest type of the Salem shipmaster of the 
age when her seamen were the vikings of American 
commerce, was Captain Richard Cleveland who wrote 
as capably as he sailed and fought and whose own record of 
his voyages inspired the London Literary Examiner to comment 
in 18-42:* 

" Few things in De Foe, Dana, or any other truth teller are 
more characteristic than Mr. Cleveland's account of his voyage 
from Havre to the Cape of Good Hope. Surely never before 
was there such an Indiaman and with such a cargo and such a 
crew." 

Captain Cleveland was born in 1773 and he reached manhood 
and the height of his career of the most romantic adventure 
when Salem commerce was also at the zenith of its prosperity. 
He was the eldest son of a father worthy to have such a son, 
Captain Stephen Cleveland, whose life at sea began when at the 
age of sixteen he was kidnapped by a British press gang in the 
streets of Boston, in 1756. This redoubtable sire served for 
several years on board a British frigate, was promoted to the 
rank of midshipman and fought the French fleet off the Chan- 
nel ports. He had returned to live in Salem when the Revolu- 

* Captain Cleveland's "Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises" 
was published in 1842 at Cambridge, INIass. In 1886 appeared a small vol- 
ume, " Voyages of a Merchant Navigator," compiled from his letters and 
journals by his son, H. W. S. Cleveland. 

329 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

tion began and became active in fitting out privateers to harry 
the British flag which he hated most heartily for having been 
compelled to serve under it. He built the Pilgrim brig which 
alone captured more than fifty British prizes and was one of the 
fastest armed ships sent out of Salem. From the Continental 
Congress he received a commission only a month after the Dec- 
laration of Independence to command the brig Despatch* in 
a voyage to Bordeaux after military stores and guns for the 
patriotic forces. His was the first government vessel to fly the 
new American flag in a harbor of Europe and he returned in 
safety with a cargo which greatly helped the struggling cause 
in his country in the early days of the war. 

His son, Richard, hero of this narrative, followed the sea as 
a matter of course, being an ambitious Salem lad as well as the 
son of his father. At the age of fourteen he entered the count- 
ing house of Elias Hasket Derby, as told in a previous chapter. 
He learned the mercantile side of a seafaring life and with the 
other lads in the employ of that famous old house, risked his 
little savings as " adventures " in the vessels which were sailing 
to the Far East. His education, beyond the counting house, 
was limited to a few years in the public schools of Salem before 
he had much more than passed into his teens. Yet this Richard 
Cleveland, mariner, by virtue of his native ability and the in- 
fluences of the times that bred him, made himself a man of the 
most liberal education, in the finest sense of the phrase, and in 
addition to this, he could lay claim to more genuine culture 
than most college university graduates of to-day. 

He was only eighteen when his father thought him old enough 
to go to sea. As captain's clerk, he sailed his first voyage with 
Captain Nathaniel Silsbee, and became second mate before the 
ship returned to Salem. This was the East Indiaman whose 
captain was not twenty years old ; the chief mate, nineteen ; and 
* See Appendix C. 
330 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

Richard Cleveland, second mate, at the same age. These rosy- 
clieeked lads carried the Herald to the Cape of Good Hope, 
thence into the Indian Ocean when warring powers and their 
privateers menaced every neutral vessel. Well might Richard 
Cleveland write of this remarkable beginning of his sea life: 

"The voyage, thus happily accomplished, may be regarded, 
when taken in all its bearings, as a very remarkable one; first, 
from the extreme youth of all to whom its management had 
been entrusted; secondly, from the foresight, ingenuity, and 
adroitness manifested in averting and escaping dangers; in per- 
ceiving advantages and turning them to the best account; and 
thirdly from the great success attending this judicious manage- 
ment, as demonstrated by the fact of returning to the owner 
four or five times the amount of the original capital. Mr. 
Derby used to call us his boys, and boast of our achievements, 
and well might he do so, for it is not probable that the annals of 
the world can furnish another example of an enterprise, of such 
magnitude, requiring the exercise of so much judgment and 
skill, being conducted by so young a man, (Nathaniel Silsbee), 
aided only by still younger advisers, and accomplished with the 
most entire success." 

In 1797, at the age of twenty-three, Richard Cleveland was in 
command of the bark Enterjprise of Salem, bound for Mocha 
after a cargo of coffee. He had to abandon this plan, however, 
after reaching Havre, and his ship was ordered home. Her 
young master had no mind to lose the profits which he had 
hoped to reap from this venture, wherefore he decided to remain 
abroad, to send the ship home in command of the mate, and not 
to go back to Salem until he had played for high stakes with the 
fortunes of the sea. Thus began a series of voyages and adven- 
tures which were to take him around the globe through seven 
long years before he should see home and friends again. At 
Havre he bought on two years' credit, a "cutter-sloop" of only 

331 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

forty-three tons, in size no larger than the yachts whose owners 
think it venturesome to take them beyond the sheltered reaches 
of Long Island Sound on summer cruises. 

His plan was, in short, to fit out and freight the absurd cockle 
shell of a merchantman for a voyage from Europe to the Cape 
of Good Hope and thence to the Isle of France, in the Indian 
Ocean, a fertile and prosperous colony which at that time was 
a Mecca for Yankee ships. 

His cutter, the Caroline, was driven ashore and wrecked 
before the coast of France was passed on his outbound voyage. 
The dauntless skipper got her off, however, worked her back 
to Havre and made repairs for a second attempt. This experi- 
ence ought to have convinced any ordinary mariner that his 
little craft was not fit for a voyage half round the world, but 
Richard Cleveland, turning loss into profit, was able to note 
of this disaster: 

" My credit, however, has not suffered in the least on this ac- 
count, for I have not only found enough to repair the damages, 
but shall put in $1,000 more, so that my cargo, although in a 
vessel of only forty tons, will amount to $7,000. I now wait 
only for a wind to put to sea again." 

While at sea during the three months' voyage to the Cape of 
Good Hope, Captain Cleveland described in his journal the 
crew with which he had undertaken to navigate the Caroline 
to her faraway destination. "It was not until the last hour I 
was at Havre," said he, "that I finally shipped my crew. For- 
tunately they were all so much in debt as not to want any time 
to spend their advance, but were ready at the instant, and with 
this motley crew, (who, for aught I knew, were robbers and 
pirates), I put to sea. 

" At the head of my list is my mate, a Nantucket lad, whom I 
persuaded the captain of a ship to discharge from before the 
mast, and who knew little or nothing of navigation, but is now 

332 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

capable of conducting the vessel in case of accident to me. 
The first of my fore-mast hands is a great, surly, crabbed, 
raw-boned, ignorant Prussian, who is so timid aloft that the 
mate has frequently been obliged to do his duty there. I 
believe him to be more of a soldier than a sailor, though he 
has often assured me that he has been a boatswain's mate of 
a Dutch Indiaman, which I do not believe as he hardly knows 
how to put two ends of a rope together. He speaks enough 
English to be tolerably understood. 

" The next in point of consequence is my cook, a good-natured 
negro and a tolerable cook, so unused to a vessel that in the 
smoothest weather he cannot walk fore and aft without holding 
onto something with both hands. This fear proceeds from the 
fact that he is so tall and slim that if he should get a cant it 
might be fatal to him. I did not think America could furnish 
such a specimen of the negro race (he is a native of Savannah), 
nor did I ever see such a perfect simpleton. It is impossible to 
teach him anything, and notwithstanding the frequency with 
which we have been obliged to take in and make sail on this 
long voyage, he can hardly tell the main-halliards from the 
mainstay. He one day took it into his head to learn the com- 
pass, and not being permitted to come on the quarter-deck to 
learn by the one in the binnacle, he took off the cover of the till 
of his chest and with his knife cut out something that looked 
like a cartwheel, and wanted me to let him nail it on the deck 
to steer by, insisting that he could ' 'teer by him better 'n 
tudder one.' 

"Next is an English boy of seventeen years old, who from 
having lately had the small-pox is feeble and almost blind, a 
miserable object, but pity for his misfortunes induces me to 
make his duty as easy as possible. Finally I have a little ugly 
French boy, the very image of a baboon, who from having 
served for some time on different privateers, has all the tricks 

333 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

of a veteran man-of-war's man, though only thirteen years old, 
and by having been in an English prison, has learned enough 
of the language to be a proficient in swearing. 

"To hear all these fellows quarrelling, (which from not un- 
derstanding each other, they are very apt to do) serves to give 
one a realizing conception of the confusion of tongues at the 
Tower of Babel. Nobody need envy me my four months' ex- 
perience with such a set, though they are now far better than 
when I first took hold of them. . . . Absence has not ban- 
ished home from my thoughts; indeed I should be worse than 
a savage were I to forget such friends as I have, yet such is 
now my roving disposition that were it not for meeting them, 
I doubt if I should ever return." 

In the last lines quoted, Richard Cleveland, with such a crew 
on such a venture, was able to find contentment with his lot. 
It is evident from his graphic description that he was the only 
capable ofiicer or seaman on board his cutter, yet he navigated 
her without serious accident to the Cape of Good Hope, and 
would not have touched there except for the urgent need of 
fresh water. The French Directory had given him official 
dispatches to carry to the Isles of France and Bourbon, and 
while this private mission might protect him against capture by 
French privateers, it laid him open to the grave risk of con- 
fiscation by whatever English authorities he chanced to fall 
athwart of. He successfully concealed these dispatches, but the 
officials of the Cape viewed him with suspicions for other rea- 
sons. They could not but believe that so hazardous a voyage 
in so small a craft must be somehow in the secret behalf of the 
French government, and although they could find no evidence 
after thoroughly overhauling the Caroline and her papers, they 
decided to make an end of this audacious voyage by purchas- 
ing the vessel. Of the excitement caused by his arrival at the 
Cape, Captain Cleveland relates: 

334 



p 




Captain Richard Cleveland 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

" The arrival of such a vessel from Europe naturally excited 
the curiosity of the inhabitants of the Cape; and the next morn- 
ing being calm, we had numerous visitors on board, who could 
not disguise their astonishment at the size of the vessel, the 
boyish appearance of the master and mate, the queer and 
unique characters of the two men and boy who composed the 
crew, and the length of the passage we had accomplished. 
Various were the conjectures of the good people of the Cape as 
to the real object of our enterprise. While some viewed it in 
its true light as a commercial speculation, others believed that 
under a mask we were employed by the French government for 
the conveyance of their dispatches, and some even went so far 
as to declare their belief that we were French spies, and as such 
deserving immediate arrest and confinement. Indeed our enter- 
prise formed the principal theme of conversation at the Cape 
during the week after our arrival." 

Captain Cleveland's private letters, log, and all other docu- 
ments found on board were taken ashore to the English admiral 
by whom he was treated very politely, " but the extreme impor- 
tance of the blustering lieutenants was in the highest degree 
disgusting." After much parleying, the young skipper was 
given permission to export ten thousand dollars worth of cargo 
in another venture. He had realized a profit on his vessel 
without going to the Isle of France and was inclined to think 
himself well out of an awkward situation when fresh trouble 
arose because the merchant to whom he sold his cargo fell afoul 
of the Custom House regulations, which entanglement resulted 
in the seizure both of the cutter and the goods on board. 

Facing ruin through no fault of his own, Captain Cleveland 
determined to appeal directly to Lord McCartney, governor of 
the Cape, explaining that the loss must fall on him as the luck- 
less merchant could not make good the losses. "But how to 
write a suitable letter (to Lord McCartney) embarrassed me," 

335 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

said he. "I had no friends with whom to advise. I was en- 
tirely ignorant of the proper manner of addressing a nobleman, 
and at the same time was aware of the necessity of conforming 
to customary rules. In this dilemma I remembered to have 
seen, in an old magazine aboard my vessel, some letters ad- 
dressed to noblemen. These I sought as models and they were 
a useful guide to me. After completing my letter in my best 
hand I enclosed it in a neat envelope and showed it to the 
admiral's secretary who appeared to be friendly to me. He 
approved of it and advised my taking it myself to his lordship 
immediately. As the schoolboy approached his master after 
having played truant, so did I approach Lord McCartney on 
this occasion." 

The frank and straightforward appeal of the boyish Ameri- 
can ship master moved the autocratic governor to interfere and 
the matter was decided in favor of the petitioner with trifling 
loss. " The success of my letter was the theme of public con- 
versation in the town," he commented, "and was the means of 
procuring me the acquaintance of several individuals of the 
first respectability." 

Four months passed before he was able to get passage on a 
merchant vessel bound for Batavia, where he intended looking 
about for another venture upon which to stake his capital. 
Finding nothing to his liking in the Dutch East Indies, Captain 
Cleveland proceeded to Canton. At this port he made up his 
mind to attempt a voyage to the northwest coast of America to 
buy furs from the Indians. As soon as this daring project was 
fairly under way he wrote home in a much more optimistic vein 
than the circumstances warranted: 

"We have every possible advantage, a vessel w^ell calculated 
for inland navigation, the best articles of trade that can be 
carried, a linguist who speaks the Indian language as well as 
his own, and oflBcers experienced in the business. Should we 

33G 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

fail of success with all these advantages, it will be very extraor- 
dinary ill-fortune, and such as I don't choose to expect." 

As a matter of fact, his vessel was a small cutter no larger 
than the Caroline, and his crew as worthless a set of beach- 
combing ruffians as ever disgraced a forecastle. The captain 
was twenty-five years old when he set sail from Canton in the 
winter of 1799, with a cargo of merchandise worth almost $20,- 
000, representing all his cash and credit. His only chart for 
beating up the Chinese coast was a map drawn by a navigator 
whom he chanced to meet in port. Until he could weather the 
northern end of Formosa his course lay directly in the teeth of 
the northwest monsoon, with imminent danger of being stran- 
ded or battered to pieces by the wind. He paid his crew this 
handsome compliment: 

" Having all hands on board twenty-one persons, consisting — 
except two Americans — of English, Irish, Swedes and French, 
but principally the first, who were runaways from the men-of- 
war and Indiamen, and two from a Botany Bay ship who had 
made their escape, for we were obliged to take such as we could 
get, served to complete a list of as accomplished villians as ever 
disgraced any country." 

For a month on end the cutter fought her way up the Chinese 
coast, her company weary, drenched, and wretched, until the 
sailors had enough of such an infernal enterprise, and broke 
out in a full-fledged mutiny. With a handful who remained 
loyal, including the ungainly black cook previously described, 
Captain Cleveland locked up the provisions, mounted two four- 
pounders on the quarter-deck, crammed them with grape-shot, 
and armed his squad with flintlock muskets and pistols. A 
man with a lighted match was stationed beside each cannon, 
and the skipper told the mutineers that if they attempted to get 
provisions or to come above the hatches, he would blow them 
overboard. For one whole day the hostile companies were at 

337 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a dead-lock, until hunger gnawing, the mutineers asked that 
they be put ashore believing that once out of the vessel they 
could dictate their own terms. 

Captain Cleveland landed and marooned them. For two 
days the cutter lay off shore while the mutineers tried to patch 
up a truce. One man weakened and was taken aboard. Of 
what happened as the final chapter of this grim episode. Captain 
Cleveland wrote in his journal: 

"At nine o'clock (A. M.) we hoisted the colors, fired a 4- 
pound cannon, and weighed anchor when they all came out 
from behind a rock, where they had doubtless been watching 
our motions. I then ordered the boat out, and with my second 
officer and four hands, well armed, went as near the beach as 
the surf would permit. I called them all down to the water side 
and told them I was then going away; that I knew there were 
several of them desirous of returning to their duty, but were 
deterred by the others ; that if they would come forward I would 
protect them, and would fire at any one that tried to prevent 
them. 

" They replied that they were all ready and willing to return 
to their duty, but the ringleaders (whom I had determined not 
to take on any account) were more ready than the others, and 
when they were rejected they swore none of the others should 
go, and presented their knives at the breasts of two of them, 
and threatened to stab them if they attempted to do so ; a third 
seemed indifferent and a fourth was lying drunk on the beach. 
Having secured three, and one yesterday, which was four of 
them, and which, with a little additional precaution, was secur- 
ing the success of the expedition, I did not think proper to put 
into execution my threat of firing on them. 

" After dinner I sent the second officer with four hands, well 
armed, to make a last effort, but by this time those whose fate 
was decided, had persuaded the others to share it with them, 

338 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

and had carried the drunken man out of reach, declaring that 
we dare not go on the coast of America with so feeble a crew, 
and we should take them all or none. 

" Having now a light breeze from the westward and a favor- 
able current, I concluded to have no further altercation with 
them, and immediately hoisted in the boat and made sail, leav- 
ing on the island of Kemoy, (which is about three hundred and 
fifty miles northeast of Canton) six of my most able men. This 
was such a reduction of our numbers as would require unceasing 
vigilance, and extraordinary caution to counteract, as the risk 
of being attacked by the Indians was of course increased in 
proportion to our diminished power of resistance." 

The mariners in Canton had told Captain Cleveland that he 
could never win his way clear of Formosa and into the Pacific 
during the winter or monsoon season, but the staunch cutter, 
after mutiny, stranding, and fighting her way inch by inch for 
thirty-one days steered out across the open ocean. On her 
northerly course the weather was so heavy that the seas washed 
over her day after day, and Captain Cleveland scarcely knew 
what it was to wear dry clothes, have a meal cooked in the 
wave-drenched galley, or snatch a whole night's sleep. 

After fifty-odd days of racking hardships the cutter fetched 
the Northwest coast and anchored in Norfolk Sound. Bul- 
warks or screens of hides were rigged along the decks in order 
to hide from the Indians the scanty muster-roll of the ship's 
company, lest they take her by boarding. For two months 
Captain Cleveland cruised among the bays and inlets along 
this wilderness coast, trading for sea-otter skins, and averting 
hostile attacks by the ablest vigilance, diplomatic dealings, and 
a show of armed force when it became necessary. 

His hold was nearly filled w^hen his cutter went hard aground 
on a sunken ledge, and was tilted, nose under, at an angle of 
forty-five degrees. " This position, combined with a rank heel 

339 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to starboard, made it impossible to stand on deck," wrote her 
skipper. "We therefore put a number of muskets into the 
boat, and prepared to make such resistance in case of attack as 
could be made by fifteen men crowded into a sixteen-foot boat. 
Our situation was now one of the most painful anxiety, no less 
from the prospect of losing our vessel and the rich cargo we had 
collected with so much toil, than from the apprehension of being 
discovered in this defenceless state by any one of the hostile 
tribes by whom we were surrounded. A canoe of the largest 
class, with thirty warriors well-armed had left us but half an 
hour before we struck, and they were now prevented from see- 
ing us only by having passed around a small island. Should 
the vessel bilge, there existed scarcely any other chance for the 
preservation of our lives than the precarious one of falling in 
with some ship before we were discovered by Indians, . . . 

"More than ten hours passed in this agonizing state of sus- 
pence, watching the horizon to discover if any savages were 
approaching; the heavens, if there were a cloud that might 
chance to ruffle the surface of the water; the vessel, whose 
occasional cracking seemed to warn us of destruction; and 
when the tide began to flow, impatiently observing its appar- 
ently sluggish advance, while I involuntarily consulted my 
watch, the hands of which seemed to have forgotten to 
move." 

The cutter was floated during the following night, conveyed 
to a beach and careened until her crew could repair her damaged 
copper and planking. Soon after this Captain Cleveland set 
sail for the return passage to China, via the Sandwich Islands, 
and " indeed the criminal who receives a pardon under the gal- 
lows could hardly feel a greater degree of exultation." When 
he arrived at Canton, " several of the gentlemen who had pre- 
dicted our destruction from attempting the voyage at the season 
we did, presumed, when they saw the cutter arrive, that we had 

340 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

failed, which indeed they had anticipated from the arrival in 
Canton several months before of the mutineers whom we had 
left on the coast of China, and the sad stories they told of hard- 
ship, danger and cruel usage." 

Captain Cleveland had secured his sea-otter skins at the' 
rate of one flint-lock musket for eight prime pelts, and his cargo 
was worth sixty thousand dollars in the Canton market. For 
this return he had risked eleven thousand dollars, and his share 
of the profits amounted to two-thirds of the whole, or forty 
thousand dollars. He sold the cutter, and went to Calcutta 
in her as a passenger, with forty-six thousand dollars as his 
capital for another fling at fortune. He had been away from 
Salem a little more than two years, and at the age of twenty-five 
had wrested from the seas a competence suflScient to have com- 
fortably supported him ashore. But he had no intention of 
forsaking the great game he was playing with such high-hearted 
assurance. 

During the voyage from Canton to Calcutta while the cutter 
was off Malacca, " we saw a fleet of eleven Malay proas pass by 
to the eastward, from whose view we supposed ourselves to have 
been screened by the trees and bushes near which we were 
lying. On perceiving so great a number of large proas sailing 
together, we felt convinced they must be pirates, and immedi- 
ately loaded our guns and prepared for defence; although con- 
scious of the fact that the fearful odds between our crew of ten 
men and theirs, which probably exceeded a hundred for each 
vessel, left us scarce a ray of hope of successful resistance. 

" We watched their progress therefore, with that intense inter- 
est which men may naturally be supposed to feel whose for- 
tunes, liberty and lives were dependent on the mere chance of 
their passing by without seeing us. To our great joy they did 
so, and when the sails of the last of the fleet were no longer 
visible from our deck, and we realized the certainty of our 

341 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

escape, our feelings of relief were in proportion to the danger 
that had threatened us. On arriving at Malacca, the curiosity 
of the people was greatly excited to know how we had escaped 
the fleet of pirates which had been seen from the town." 

Arriving at Calcutta Captain Cleveland was disappointed in 
his expectations of sending home a cargo of goods upon terms 
which should swell his profits, so he began to plan a voyage in 
which the rewards might be in fairer proportion to the risks he 
was ready to undertake. The East India Company forbade 
communication between Bengal and the Isle of France, but 
Captain Cleveland foresaw an opportunity to pick up at a bar- 
gain the rich prizes and cargoes that French privateers were 
carrying into the latter port. Therefore, he bought a mite of a 
twenty-five ton pilot boat, had her sent to the Danish settle- 
ment of Serampore, put her under the Danish flag, and stole 
away into the Indian Ocean. For forty-five days he held on 
his course blistering under a tropic sun, and as he ingenuously 
explained to account for his foolhardiness : "Pleasing myself 
with the idea that all will turn out for the best, time passes as 
lightly with me as with most people, and I am persuaded that 
few people enjoy a greater share of happiness than myself, if 
you can conceive of there being any happiness in building airy 
castles and pursuing them nearly around the globe till they 
vanish, and then engaging in a fresh pursuit." 

The youthful merchant navigator fared safely in his cock- 
boat to the Isle of France and was again disappointed in his 
commercial air-castles. The privateers had sold their prizes 
and were winging it out to sea in search of more British plun- 
der. For ten months he waited in the hope of a reopening of 
trade between America and the French colonies. At length he 
loaded seven thousand bags of coffee on board a Danish ship 
bound for Copenhagen, and sailed as a passenger. With him 
went Nathaniel Shaler of Connecticut, a sterling American 

342 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

merchant whom he had met in the Isle of France and who was 
a partner in this coffee adventure to Copenhagen. 

They sold their cargo for a large profit, and then began to 
look about for a vessel suitable to undertake a voyage to the 
west coast of South America, a project which the twain had 
worked out during their companionship at sea. They found at 
Hamburg a fast and roomy Virginia-built brig, the Lelia Byrd, 
which they bought. Shaler was made captain by the toss of a 
coin, Captain Cleveland signing the ship's papers as supercargo. 
While in Hamburg they had formed a warm friendship with a 
youthful Polish nobleman. Count de Rousillon, who had been 
an aide-de-camp to Kosciusko. His personality was most 
engaging, his love of adventure ardent, and his means slender, 
wherefore he embraced with enthusiasm the invitation to join 
the two young Americans in their voyage to South America. 
Alas, the glamor of such romance as was their fortune to enjoy 
has long since vanished from commerce, afloat and ashore. 
They were three seafaring "Musketeers" all under thirty years 
of age, setting forth to beard the viceroys of Spain. 

Richard Cleveland had now been a cheerful exile from Salem 
for four years, following the star of his destiny in almost every 
ocean, escaping dangers uncounted with the skin of his teeth 
and by his sagacity, resolution and shrewdness finding himself 
richer for every audacious voyage. For two and a half years 
longer, he was to sail in the Lelia Byrd among the Spanish 
peoples of the South American coast before his wanderings 
should lead him home to Salem. 

From Hamburg the brig went to Rio Janeiro where they were 
not allowed to trade, and thence doubled Cape Horn and 
reached Valparaiso in February in 1802. They were startled 
and alarmed to find four American vessels under detention by 
the Spanish government. After spirited correspondence with 
the Captain General at Santiago the Lelia Byrd was permitted 

343 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to buy supplies sufficient for resuming her voyage and to sell so 
much of the cargo as would pay for the same. While at anchor 
in the bay. Captain Cleveland and his friends witnessed a tragedy 
which convinced them that the sooner they could get to sea the 
better. The American ship Hazard of Providence, Captain 
Rowan, which had touched for provisions, had on board several 
hundred muskets shipped in Holland and consigned to the 
Northwest Coast. The Governor ordered Captain Rowan to 
deliver up these arms as violating treaty stipulations. The 
American skipper saw no good reason why he should obey and 
refused to let a file of Spanish soldiers on board his ship. 

The Governor flew into a violent passion, ordered every 
American merchant ashore to be locked up in the castle, and 
commanded an eighteen-gun Spanish merchant ship to bring her 
broadside to bear on the Hazard and demand Captain Rowan's 
surrender under pain of being sunk at his moorings. The skip- 
per replied that they might fire if they pleased, and nailed his 
stars and stripes to his masthead. 

Shaler, Rousillon, and Cleveland, happening to be ashore, 
were swept up by the Governor's drag-net order and sent to the 
castle as prisoners. Next day they were offered liberty without 
explanation, but the indignant trio from the Lelia Byrd refused 
to be set free until a proper apology had been made them. It 
was finally agreed that as Captain Shaler was nominal master 
of the brig, he should stay in prison while his comrades made 
matters hot for the offending Governor. 

This official refused to let them send a messenger to the Cap- 
tain General and asked why in the devil they did not put to sea, 
and be grateful that they had escaped the dungeons or worse. 
To which young Richard Cleveland made reply (which the 
gifted Count turned into fluent and fiery Spanish) that they 
wanted satisfaction for being locked up without cause, and 
that Captain Shaler proposed to languish behind the bars until 

344 



The Voyages of Ca'ptain Richard Cleveland 

he was informed why he had been put in. A day later, the 
situation remaining in statu quo, the Governor sent for Cleve- 
land, asked if he were not second in command and angrily or- 
dered him to extract his recalcitrant skipper from jail and go to 
sea on the instant. The Yankee replied that the apology or 
explanation was still lacking, and that the Lelia Byrd was only 
waiting for her captain who was a prisoner in the castle. 

Meanwhile a letter had arrived from the Captain General 
ordering Captain Rowan of the Hazard to deliver up the arms 
which comprised part of his cargo, and make a second declara- 
tion respecting their lading. The muskets were sent ashore, 
and the supercargo sent to the Governor with the customs cer- 
tificate made out in Amsterdam. Captain Rowan did not 
understand that he was expected to make this report in person, 
but the Governor considered himself and his Spanish dignity 
again insulted by the failure of the captain to appear. 

Early in the morning, two hours before Americans were per- 
mitted to land, and therefore before Captain Rowan could 
obey another summons, two hundred Spanish soldiers who 
were no better than brigands, boarded the Hazard and took 
her from an unarmed crew of twenty-three men who had no 
forewarning. In the words of Captain Cleveland: 

"This was done by order of the Governor, who stood on 
shore opposite the vessel and was a witness to the horrid scene 
of assassination and rapine that followed. Captain Rowan's 
life was saved by the humanity of the captain of a Spanish brig, 
who got into the cabin in advance of the rabble, as he had not 
time to save himself as the other officer had done, by retreating 
to the lazaretto. The plunder which ensued for the remainder 
of the day and the following night was such as to lighten the 
ship nearly a foot. Nor were the officers of rank backward in 
taking part in the pillage; and the custom house guards, far from 
preventing, were as eager as the rest in the work of robbery." 

345 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Captain Cleveland rushed to the Governor's palace and 
demanded with forceful Anglo Saxon threats, that he be allowed 
to send a statement overland to the Captain General, but he 
was told that if he did not want to share the fate of the Hazard, 
he had best put to sea. The persistence of this indomitable 
young Yankee at last wore down the Governor's resistance, and 
the message was sent to Santiago by courier. 

The answer was to the surprising effect that Captain Cleve- 
land and his comrades should receive the most complete satisfac- 
tion for the injuries done them, at which Nathaniel Shaler, still 
cooling his heels in the castle, consented to emerge with his self- 
respect untarnished. After days and days of further complica- 
tions due to red-tape and an invincible hostility toward all other 
than Spanish vessels trading in those waters. Captain Cleveland 
and his doughty shipmates were able to bid a glad farewell to 
the Governor of Valparaiso, His Illustrious Excellency, Don 
Antonio Francisco Garcia Carrasco. 

" The notoriety they had attained by these protracted quarrels 
with an ignorant, conceited, and pusillanimous official, rendered 
it injudicious to attempt to enter any other port of Chili or 
Peru," wherefore the Lelia Byrd was steered for the coast of 
Mexico, after gathering these proofs to convince far less astute 
shipmasters that the markets for American enterprise on the 
South American coast were not up to expectations. They 
made their first landing at San Bias, where the subordinate 
Spanish officials cordially received them. Rousillon went to 
the interior capital of Tipec to confer with the Governor, and 
alas, this peppery gentleman flew into a rage because his deputy 
at San Bias had dared to make a trading agreement with the 
Yankee brig without consulting him. Thus was brewed a 
tempest in a teapot, the upshot of which was that His Passionate 
Excellency at Tipec sent word that the Lelia Byrd must leave 
port or be attacked by a Spanish gunboat. 

346 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

The diplomatic Rousillon thereupon undertook to go to the 
City of Mexico and sohcit permission from the Viceroy to sell 
a part or the whole of the cargo. Captain Cleveland, finding 
the harbor of San Bias too hot to hold him, sailed for Three 
Marias Islands, sixty miles to the westward, there to wait until 
word was received from his emissary to the Viceroy. Three 
weary months passed in this empty fashion, at the end of which 
the two captains, Shaler and Cleveland, decided to risk a return 
to San Bias in the hope of finding some tidings of the myster- 
iously vanished Rousillon. They stole into the coast by night, 
and next day saw an Indian in a canoe who paddled out to them 
and delivered a letter from their absent comrade. He had suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a concession to sell ten thousand dollars 
worth of goods at San Bias, and after two weeks of delay this 
part of the cargo was put ashore. 

The sales dragged on with such interminable waste of time, 
however, that it was deemed best to leave Rousillon in Mexico 
to finish these transactions. He died before his mission was 
ended, and his friends and fellow^ seafarers mourned the loss 
of one who had become very dear to them and who had stood 
the test of their arduous life together. 

The Lelia Byrd next proceeded to San Diego in search of sea- 
otter skins.* At this port they caught another Spanish Tartar 



* "Several American tradino; craft made their appearance on the California 
coast this year, creating not a little excitement in some instances by attempts 
at smuggling in the success of which the people were hardly less interested 
than the Yankee captains. The Lelia Byrd was fitted out at Hamburg by 
Capt. Richard J. Cleveland, of Salem, Massachusetts, who had just made a 
fortune by a four years' voyage or series of commercial adventures in the Pacific, 
during which he had touched the northern coast of America, but not of Cali- 
fornia, in partnership with William Shaler, and sailed in November, 1801. 

" An amusing feature of this and other similar narratives is the cool frankness 
with which the Americans and English present the evasion of all Spanish 
commercial and revenue regulations as an action altogether praiseworthy, and 
the efforts of the officials to enforce those regulations as correspondingly repre- 
hensible." (From The History of California, by Herbert Howe Bancroft. 
Vol H. Page 10.) 

347 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

in the person of the Commandant, Don Manuel Rodriguez, 
who boarded them with a file of dragoons, and left a guard on 
the ship, the sergeant of which volunteered the discouraging 
information that the Boston ship Alexander had left port a 
few days before, after being robbed by the Commandant of 
several hundred sea-otter skins which her captain had pur- 
chased ashore. With this warning Captain Cleveland kept an 
eye out for squalls. He was able to obtain several valuable lots 
of furs, and made ready to go to sea without more delay. One 
more consignment of skins was to be delivered and the night be- 
fore sailing the first officer and two men were sent ashore for 
them. They did not return and daylight showed the boat hauled 
out on the beach and the men from the brig in the hands of a 
squad of soldiers. 

Captain Cleveland manned a boat with his armed sailors, 
pulled for the beach and promptly took his men away from 
their captors. As soon as the crew was on board, the Com- 
mandant's guard was unceremoniously disarmed, and with a 
fair wind the Lelia Byrd moved out to sea. "Before we got 
within gunshot of the fort," wrote Captain Cleveland in his 
journal, "they fired a shot ahead of us. We had previously 
loaded all our guns, and brought them all on the starboard side. 
As the tide was running in strong, we were not abreast the fort 
— ^which we passed within musket shot — till half an hour after 
receiving the first shot, all of which time they were playing away 
upon us; but as soon as we were abreast the fort we opened 
upon them, and in ten minutes silenced their battery and drove 
everybody out of it. They fired only two guns after we began, 
and only six of their shot counted, one of which went through 
between wind and water; the others cut the rigging and sails. 
As soon as we were clear we landed the guard, who had been in 
great tribulation lest we should carry them off." 

Thirty years later Richard Henry Dana, author of Two 

348 



Tlie Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

Years Before the Mast, found the story of this exploit still 
current in San Diego and the neighboring ports and missions. 
Shortly after the transfer of California to the United States, 
Commodore Biddle referred to the "Battle of San Diego" as 
giving Captain Cleveland a fair claim to the governorship of 
the territory which claim he had won in the Lelia Byrd long 
before Fremont's invasion.* 

After some further adventures in search of trade along the 
Mexican coast the adventurers laid their course for the Sand- 
wich Islands. They had purchased a horse on the coast and 
landed the beast on the island of Owyhee. There were only 
two European inhabitants on the Sandwich Islands at that time, 
John Young and Isaac Davis. Young came on board the brig 
and wanted to buy the mare as a present for King Tamaahmaah, 

* "Another version is that of Rodriguez in his report to the Governor 
dated April 10th. About the fight the two narratives do not exactly agree. 
Rodriguez says that suspicious of contraband trade he made a round in the 
evening, surprised the Americans of one boat trading with Carlos Rosa at La 
Barranca, arrested them and went on to the Battery where he seized some goods 
left in payment for forty otter skins. Next morning when Cleveland came 
ashore to see what had become of the men one of the guards, Antonio Gnillean 
— he was the husband of the famous old lady of San Gabriel, Eulalia Perez, 
who died in 1878 at a fabulous old age — came also, escaped, and hastened to 
warn the corporal in command of the battery that the Ainericans were going 
to sail without landing the guard. The corporal made ready his guns, and 
when the Lelia Byrd started, raised his flag, fired a blank cartridge and then a 
shot across her bows as Cleveland says. Then another shot was fired which 
struck the hull but did no damage. This may have been the eftective shot. 

"Thereupon Sergt. Arce shouted not to fire as they would be put ashore 
and the firing ceased. But when the vessel came opposite the fort on her way 
out she reopened the fire. The battery followed suit and did some damage, but 
stopped firing as soon as the vessel did, no harm being done to the fort or its 
defenders. It is, of course, impossible to reconcile these discrepancies. Rod- 
riguez, an able and honorable man engaged in the performance of his duty, 
and making a clear straightforward report is prima facie entitled to credence 
against a disappointed and baffled smuggler. 

" Cleveland ridiculed Rodriguez for his exceeding vanity, his absurd display 
of a little brief authority, and the characteristic pomp with which this arrant 
coxcomb performed his duties. I cannot deny that Don INIanuel may have 
been somewhat pompous in manner, but the head and front of his oft'ending 
in the eye of the Yankees was his interference with their schemes of contraband 
trade." (From The History of California, by Herbert Howe Bancroft. 
Vol n, page 11.) 

349 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

but when his hlase Majesty saw the animal cantering up and 
down the beach he expressed httle curiosity or interest, although 
this was the first animal larger than a pig ever seen by the 
natives of the Sandwich Islands. The king's subjects were 
wildly excited, however, and when one of the sailors mounted 
the mare and tore up and down the beach, the spectators were 
much concerned for the rider's safety, "and rent the air with 
shouts of admiration." 

From the Sandwich Islands the Lelia Byrd was carried to 
China, arriving off Canton on the 29th of August, 1803. Here 
the cargo of sea-otter skins was sold, and the two captains, 
Shaler and Cleveland, parted company for the time. Shaler 
loaded the brig for a return voyage to the California coast and 
Richard Cleveland took passage around the Cape of Good 
Hope, homeward for Boston. 

At the age of thirty years this Salem mariner returned to his 
kinfolk and friends after an absence of seven and a half years 
at sea. He had left home a lad of twenty-three with two 
thousand dollars as his total capital. He had been twice around 
the world, had accomplished three most extraordinary voyages 
in tiny craft, from Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, from 
India to the Isle of France and from China to the Northwest 
coast of America. He had fought and beaten mutineers and 
Spanish gunners by force of arms, his invincible pluck and 
tenacity had won him victories over Governors and Viceroys 
from Africa to the Mexican coast, he had succeeded in a dozen 
hazardous undertakings where a hundred men had failed, and 
at thirty years of age he had lived a score of ordinary lives. He 
had increased his slender capital to seventy thousand dollars 
by the cleanest and most admirable exertions, and as fortunes 
were counted a hundred years ago, he was a rich man. 

The achievements of modern so-called " Captains of Indus- 
try," who amass millions in wresting, by methods of legalized 

350 



The Voyages of Captain Richard Cleveland 

piracy, the riches that other men have earned, raise a prodigious 
clamor of comment, admiring and otherwise. But, somehow, 
such an American as Richard Cleveland seems to be a far more 
worthy type for admiration, and his deeds loom in pleasing 
contrast wnth those of a railroad wrecker or stock juggler, even 
though a fortune of seventy thousand dollars is a bagatelle in 
the eyes of the twentieth century. 

Captain Cleveland believed that his affairs were so prosper- 
ously shaped that he could retire from the sea. He built him a 
home in Lancaster, Mass., where with his wife and brother, his 
well-stored mind and simple tastes enjoyed the tranquil life of 
a New England village. But much of his fortune was afloat 
or invested in foreign shipping markets, and misfortune over- 
took his ventures one after the other. Three years after his 
home-coming he was obliged to go to sea again to win a new 
treasure in partnership with his old friend, Nathaniel Shaler. 
For almost fifteen years longer he voyaged from one quarter of 
the globe to the other, winning large profits only to risk them 
in more alluring undertakings, always turning a resolute and 
undaunted front to whatever odds overtook him. In his elder 
years, after a series of cruel maritime reverses, he wrote as a 
summary : 

" On making an estimate of my losses for the twenty years 
between 1800 and 1820, 1 find their aggregate amount to exceed 
$200,000, though I never possessed at any one time a sum to 
exceed $80,000. Under such losses I have been supported by 
the consoling reflection that they had been exclusively my own, 
and that it is not in the power of any individual to say, with 
truth, that I have ever injured him to the amount of a dollar. 
With a small annual sum from the Neapolitan indemnity I have 
been able to support myself till this was on the point of ceasing 
by the cancelling of that debt, when I was so fortunate as to 
obtain an office in the Boston Custom House, the duties of 

351 



The ShijJs and Sailors of Old Salem 

which I hope to perform faithfully and in peace during the few 
remaining years or months or days which may be allotted to me 
on earth." 

From an obituary notice in the Boston Courier of December 
8, 18G0, this tribute to the memory of Richard Cleveland is 
quoted, because it was written by one who knew him: 

" While in the planning of commercial enterprises he showed 
rare inventive qualities, and in the execution of them wonderful 
energy and perseverance, he was somewhat deficient in those 
humbler qualities which enable men to keep and manage what 
they have earned. . . . But this reverse of fortune served 
to bring out more and more the beauty of Captain Cleveland's 
character, and to give him new claims to the affection and 
esteem of his friends. It was gently, patiently, heroically borne ; 
never a word of complaint was heard from his lips, never a 
bitter arraignment of the ways of Providence, never an envious 
fling at the prosperity of others. And the wise, kind, cheerful 
old man was happy to the end." 

Thus lived and died an American sailor of the olden-time, 
a brave and knightly man of an heroic age in his country's 
history. 



352 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PRIVATEERS OF 1812 

THE War of 1812 was a sailors' war, fought by the United 
States for "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." Amer- 
icans of this century cannot realize the bitterness of 
feeling against England which was at white heat in all the 
Atlantic seacoastwise towns during a period of forty years before 
the second war waged by the young republic against the mother 
country. To the men of New England, in the words of Josiah 
Quincy, the land was " only a shelter from the storm, a perch 
on which they build their eyrie and hide their mate and their 
young, while they skim the surface, or hunt in the deep." In 
1806 and 1807, according to the files of the State Department, 
six thousand American seamen were virtual captives in British 
war vessels. " The detection of an attempt to notify an Amer- 
ican Consul of the presence of Americans on board an English 
ship was sure to be followed by a brutal flogging," writes the 
historian McMaster. 

President Jeft'erson shrank from war and sought a retaliatory 
compromise in the Embargo of 1808 which forbade the departure 
of an American merchant vessel for any foreign port. This 
measure which paralyzed American trade, was so fiercely op- 
posed in New England that an insurrection was feared, and 
the ports were filled with dismantled ships, empty warehouses, 
deserted wharves and starving seamen. When war came, it 
was welcomed by forty thousand native American merchant 
seamen who, eager for revenge for the wrongs they had suffered, 
were ready to crowd the ships of the navy and overflow into the 
fleets of privateers that hurried from every deep-water port. 

353 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

England's high-handed claims to right of search and im- 
pressment and the continual menace from French and Spanish 
marauders had developed a much faster and more powerful 
class of merchant vessels than had been armed for service in the 
Revolution. During the war Salem placed in commission forty 
privateers of which more than half had been built in her own 
yards. Of these the most famous and successful was the ship 
America, whose audacious cruising ground was from the Eng- 
lish Channel to the Canary Islands. The art of building fast 
and beautiful ships had been so far perfected a hundred years 
ago that Salem vessels were crossing the Atlantic in twelve and 
thirteen days for record passages, performances which were not 
surpassed by the famous clipper-packets of half a century later. 
The America, as shown in the interesting data collected by B. 
B. Crowninshield, although built in 1803, was faster with the 
wind on her quarter, than such crack racing machines as the 
Vigilant, Defender and Columbia. This noble privateer made 
a speed record of thirteen knots, with all her stores, guns, fittings, 
boats and bulwarks aboard, which is only one knot behind the 
record of the Defender, in short spurts, and when stripped in 
racing trim. The America frequently averaged better than ten 
knots for twelve hours on end, which matches the best day's 
run of the Vigilant in her run to Scotland in the summer of 1894. 
This privateer, which carried a crew of one hundred and fifty 
men and twenty-two guns was no longer than a modern cup 
defender. 

This splendid fabric of the seas was the fastest Yankee ship 
afloat during the War of 1812, and her speed and the admirable 
seamanship displayed by her commanders enabled her to 
cruise in the English Channel for weeks at a time, to run 
away from British frigates which chased her home and back 
again, and to destroy at least two million dollars worth of 
English shipping. 

354 



The Privateers of 1812 



Michael Scott, in "Tom Cringle's Log" described such a 
vessel as the America in the following passage dealing with the 
fate of a captured Yankee privateer at the hands of British 
masters : 

"When I had last seen her she was the most beautiful little 
craft, both in hull and rigging, that ever delighted the eyes of a 
sailor; but the dock-yard riggers and carpenters had fairly 
bedeviled her — at least so far as appearances went. First they 
replaced the light rail on her gunwale by heavy, solid bulwarks 
four feet high, surmounted by hammock nettings at least an- 
other foot; so that the symmetrical little vessel, that formerly 
floated on the foam light as a sea gull, now looked like a clumsy, 
dish-shaped Dutch dogger. Her long slender wands of masts, 
which used to swing about as if there were neither shrouds nor 
stays to support them, were now as taut and stiff as church 
steeples, with four heavy shrouds on a side, and stays, and back- 
stays, and the devil knows what all." 

The America was built for the merchant service and her career 
before the war was not lacking in picturesque flavor. She was 
the pride of the great shipping family of Crowninshield, built by 
Retire Becket of Salem, under the eye of Captain George Crown- 
inshield, Jr. With a crew of thirty-five men and ten guns she 
sailed on her first voyage, to the Dutch East Indies, in the sum- 
mer of 1804, commanded by Captain Benjamin Crowninshield, 
Jr. Touching at the Isle of Bourbon in the Indian Ocean, it was 
learned that a cargo of coffee might be obtained at Mocha in the 
Red Sea. The America shifted her course and proceeded to 
Mocha, where she dropped anchor only seven years after the Re- 
covery had first shown the stars and stripes in that port. Having 
taken on coffee, goat skins, gum arable, and sienna, the ship 
went to Aden carrying as a passenger Mr. Pringle, the English 
consul. A few days later Captain Crowninshield was informed 
that Mr. Pringle had taken passage for England from Aden in 

355 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

the ship Alert, which had been captured by Arabs, the captain 
and fifteen men murdered and the vessel carried off to India. 

Meanwhile a rumor had reached Salem that the America, 
instead of obeying orders and going to Sumatra had veered away 
to Mocha after coffee. The owners had implicitly enjoined 
Captain Crowninshield after this imploring fashion : 

"Now you've broken orders so often, see for once if you can't 
mind them." 

When the ship was sighted ofiF Salem harbor, the owners and 
some of their friends hastily put off in a small boat, wholly in the 
dark as to where their skipper had been and what he had fetched 
home, and not at all easy in their minds. If he had secured 
coffee, then they stood to win a small fortune, but if the cargo 
was pepper, which they had ordered him to get, well, the bottom 
had dropped out of the pepper market a short time before and 
the prospect was not so pleasing. It was a sea lottery of the 
kind that lent excitement to the return of most Salem ventures 
beyond the seas. As the owners neared the ship they began 
to sniff the wind. They thought they could smell coffee, but 
the old salt at the tiller suggested that the fragrant odor might 
be blown from a fresh pot of the beverage in the galley, and 
hopes fell below par. As soon as they were within fair hailing 
distance Captain Benjamin Crowninshield, one of the owners, 
shouted through a speaking trumpet, "What's your cargo P" 

"Pep-p-er-r," came the doleful response from the skipper on 
the quarter deck. 

"You're a liar, blast your eye, I smell coffee," roared back 
the agitated owner through his triumpet. 

The Captain had had his little joke, and he was effusively 
forgiven, for he had brought back a cargo that harvested a clean 
profit of one hundred thousand dollars when sold in Holland. 

As soon as war was declared the owners of the America 
hastened the task of fitting her out as a privateer. Her upper 

356 



M 



The Privateers of 1812 



deck was removed, and her sides filled in with stout oak timber 
between the planking and ceiling. Longer yards and royal 
masts gave her an immense spread of sail, and, square-rigged 
on her three masts she was a stately cloud of canvas when under 
full sail. Her guns were eighteen long nine-pounders, two six- 
pounders, two eighteen-pound carronades, and for small arms, 
forty muskets, four blunderbusses, fifty-five pistols, seventy- 
three cutlasses, ten top muskets, thirty-six tomahawks or board- 
ing axes, and thirty-nine boarding pikes. 

Her crew of one hundred and fifty men comprised a com- 
mander, three lieutenants, sailing master, three mates, surgeon, 
purser, captain of marines, gunner, gunner's mate, carpenter, 
carpenter's mate, steward, steward's mate, seven prize masters, 
armorer, drummer, fifer, three quartermasters, and one hun- 
dred and twenty-two seamen. This was the organization of a 
man-of-war of her time, and discipline was maintained as 
smartly as in the navy. Flogging was the penalty for offenses 
among the seamen, as shown by the record of a court martial 
on one of her cruises. A seaman had stolen a pair of shoes from 
a marine, for which he was sentenced to a dozen lashes. A 
poet of the privateer's gun deck described this event at some 
length, including these pithy lines: 

"The Boatsw'n pipes all hands to muster. 
No time for whining, plea or bluster, 
The Judge announces the just sentence 
And many stripes produce repentance; 

" For the low cur, who'd meanly cozen 
A poor Marine, must take his 'dozen.'" 

On her first cruise the America was commanded by Captain 
Joseph Ropes, son of that Revolutionary privateersman. Cap- 
tain David Ropes, who was killed in a bloody action aboard the 
Jack, off Halifax. Joseph Ropes was also a kinsman of Na- 

357 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

thaniel Hawthorne, and of Nathaniel Bowditch, the two sons 
of Salem whose fame is world-wide. This captain of the Amer- 
ica had sailed in her as a merchantman to the Mediterranean,, 
and it is related that he made so favorable an impression upon the 
Sultan of Turkey that the potentate wished to negotiate through 
him a commercial treaty with the United States. 

Tradition says that the only thing in the world Captain Ropes 
feared was reproof from his mother. She hated the sea because 
the boy's father had lost his life upon it, and young Joseph ran 
away on his first voyage to the West Indies when he was little 
past the spankable age. He took care to send her as a peace 
offering a barrel of molasses before he dared return home and 
face her sorrowing indignation. Captain Ropes made only one 
cruise in the America, after which he retired from the sea. He 
captured six prizes on the Atlantic, valued at $158,000, all of 
them merchantmen which could make no resistance to the 
heavy battery of the privateer. 

Her second cruise was in command of Captain John Kehew, 
who had been a first lieutenant under Captain Ropes. The 
America was at sea four months and took ten vessels without 
notable incident. The third, fourth and fifth cruises of the 
privateer were entrusted to Captain James Chever, Jr., who won 
a name for himself as one of the ablest and most daring sailors 
of the war. He had been in the America from her first voyage 
to Mocha, when he Vt^as an infant of twelve years, acting as 
cabin boy. He came of a sterling fighting and seafaring stock. 
His father. Captain James Chever, was a lieutenant of the first 
Grand Turk, privateer during the Revolution, which ship, among 
other notable achievements, captured a large cargo of military 
supplies intended for Cornwallis. These stores were delivered 
to Washington and were a great assistance in the siege of York- 
town. The son rose to be a master of merchant vessel before 
he was twenty, and when he was given command of the America 

358 




Captain Jame.s W. Chever, commander of the 
privateer America 




The privateer America under full sail 



The Privateers of 1812 



privateer in 1813, he was twenty-two years old, with one hun- 
dred and fifty men to take his orders and one of the finest and 
fastest ships afloat to win him fame and fortune. 

From the log of his first cruise in the America the following 
extracts are chosen, as showing the daily life and business aboard 
a Yankee privateer a century ago: 

" Dec. 14 (1813) Latter part, strong breezes and clear weather. 
At 11 A.M. saw a sail bearing E. by N. Called all hands and 
made sail in chase; and sent up Top Gallant yards. At 3 P.M. 
coming up with our chase very fast. He hoisted English colors 
and hauled up his courses. At half past 3 P.M. we hauled 
down our English colors; gave him a gun; and hoisted Ameri- 
can colors. Passed within pistol shot of him, to windward, 
firing continually; exchanged three broadsides; in a few 
minutes afterward we past round his bow and gave him a rak- 
ing fire. Our guns under water. There being a great sea and 
our decks full of water, and perceiving him to be a light trans- 
port of about six hundred tons, mounting 28 or 30 guns and 
full of men, we concluded if we took him we should not reap any 
advantage as he could not be of much value; therefore, thought 
it prudent to leave him. During the action received a number 
of shot, one of which cut away part of the maintopsail yard. 
The topsail being double reefed the shot went through both 
reefs; another shot went through our fore topsail; another cut 
away one of our fore-shrouds. John Mclntire, a marine, 
while in the act of loading his musket, was shot through the left 
breast and expired instantly. From 4 to 6 P.M. employed 
sending down the main topsail and yard and getting up another. 
At half past six sent up the main topsail; while bending it lost 
a man out of the main top-mast rigging by the name of Ebenezer 
Osgood. It being very dark and a long sea, thought it impru- 
dent to get the boat out. At 8 set the maintopsail close reefed. 
Close reefed the fore topsail and took in the mizzen topsail and 

359 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

mainsail; at 9 took in the foresail; at 10 took in the fore topsail; 
at 11 took in the maintopsail and mizzen staysail and lay to 
under the fore and main staysail. Strong gales and cloudy 
weather. At ^ past 1 A.M. sent down the top-gallant yards. 
At 3 set the mizzen staysail. At 7 set the fore and mizzen top- 
sails. A gun bursted." 

"Dec. 25. Commences with light breezes and pleasant 
weather. At 2 P.M. took in the staysails and jib. At 3 all 
hands to quarters; exercise the guns. At 4 let two reefs out of 
the topsails. At half past four hands aft while the carpenter 
repaired the copper on the cutwater." 

" Jan. 18th. At 1 P.M. coming up with our chase very fast 
found him to be a schooner. At 4 P.M. gave him a gun, and 
he hove to and hoisted English colors. Boarded him and found 
him to be the English schooner Martha, Wm. Williams, master, 
from Waterford, bound for Cadiz. Cargo dry goods, butter, 
bacon, Beef, etc. Put on board Wm. C. Hooper as prize master, 
with six men and ordered her for America. Took Mr. Wilson, 
mate, and three men. Left no one on board of her except the 
captain. Sent on board schooner 150 pounds bread, 10 do. 
chocolate, 4 gallons rum, 110 gallons water. Received from 
her five firkins butter. At 6 P.M. parted from her. At 10 
hauled up the mainsail." 

In a way, this capturing small merchant vessels, the loss of 
which spelled beggary for their masters, seemed a cruel and 
unnecessary part of war between nations. It had its stern use 
however, in crippling England's commercial strength, and in 
employing her navy to protect her trading fleets. The Araerica 
swooped among these deep-laden craft like a hawk in a dove 
cote, snatching them from convoys, or picking them up in the 
English Channel almost within sight of their own shores. Her 
logs are filled with such entries as these: 

"Jan. 23. He proved to be the British ship Diana, George 

360 



The Privateers of 1812 



W. Carlton, master, from London bound for Madeira, cargo, 
deals. From 2 to 6 P.M. boats employed in taking our articles 
from the ship as the captain contemplated burning her. During 
the afternoon received on board all the Diana's company con- 
sisting of 15 in number and one passenger, likewise a quantity 
of duck, rigging, etc. At 3 P.M. after taking all necessary 
things out of the Diana, set fire to her." 

"Jan. 26th. At 2 P.M. saw a sail bearing N.N.W.; called 
all hands to make sail in chase. At 3 sent up Royal masts and 
yards; and set all necessary sail. At 8 came up with the chase; 
it proved to be the British brig Sovereign from Cork bound for 
l^iverpool, John Brown commander. Took on board the 
prisoners and put on board Mr. Hall, prize master with six men 
and ordered her to America. Her cargo consisted of coals, 
crates, butter, etc." 

" Jan. 27th, A number of our men on board the Sovereign 
fitting a new foremast and doing other necessary work. At 
4 P, M. saw a sail on the lee bow. Made a signal for our boats 
and all hands to repair on board. Instantly got in the boats 
and made all necessary sail in chase. At 5 nearing the chase 
very fast. At half past 9 lighted our side lanterns and called 
all hands to quarters. At 10 within gunshot of him; Fired and 
brought him to. Got out the gig and brought the captain on 
board with his papers. She proved to be the British ship 
Falcon, Atkinson, master, from Liverpool via Lisbon, bound 
to the Canaries, with a very valuable cargo of merchandise. At 
11 took on board the prisoners. Put on board Mr. Cleaves as 
prize master with 12 hands." 

" Jan. 28. At 8 A.M. saw a sail in the lee bow. A signal 
was made for the boat and all hands to repair on board. Made 
sail in chase. At 4 P.M. discovered him to be a brig;. At half 
past 9 gave him a gun; he not regarding it soon after gave him 
another and he rounded to. Got out the boat and boarded him. 

361 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

The captain came on board with his papers. She proved to be 
the British brig Ann of London, Appleton, master, from Oporto 
bound to Bayhei in ballast ; not being of much value, permitted 
him to pass, after putting all our prisoners on board of him, 
being forty-six in number including the brig's crew, and directed 
him to land them in Teneriff e and there to report to the proper 
cflBcer. At 4 P.M. got all the prisoners on board and ordered 
him to make sail." 

Prize after prize was thus entered in the log, for the America 
overhauled everything she sighted and made chase after, and 
managed to keep in the track of the richest trade bound to and 
from England, nor could British frigates find and drive her off 
her station. Other entries for this third cruise include the fol- 
lowing : 

" Feb. 19th. Coming up with our chase very fast. At | past 
3 took in studding sails and Royals. At 4 fired a gun and 
brought him to and boarded him. He proved to be the British 
brig Sisters from Malaga, cargo wine and fruit, prize to the 
American privateer, Young Wasp of Philadelphia. At 5 parted 
with him." 

"Feb. 20th. All hands to quarters and exercise the great 
guns, Boarders, etc. Started two Hogsheads of salt water for- 
ward to trim ship by the stern." 

" Feb. 24th. At 9 A.M. got out the launch to scrub the bot- 
tom. All hands employed in setting up and tarring down the 
rigging. At 7 P.M. put all prisoners in Irons for bad Con- 
duct." 

" March 1. At 9 A.M. saw a sail bearing about S.W. Hauled 
up for him and set the mainsail, jib and mizzen. At 10 per- 
ceived the sail to be a ship of war, apparently a frigate; wore 
ship to the N.N.W. Set top gallant sails, stay sails and top 
mast studding sails, and sent up the Royal yards. At ^ past 11 
fired a lee gun and hoisted our colors. 

362 



The Privateers of 1812 



" March 2. Lost sight of the ship astern at 1 P.M. 

"March 6. At \ past 2 all hands to quarters for exercise. 
Got out the boat and carried an empty water cask from the ship, 
about 60 yards to fire at. Blew off one Broadside. All the 
shots went very near. At 4 went in swimming." 

On this cruise the America took an even dozen prizes. Touch- 
ing at Portsmouth, N. H., to gather her crew, which had been 
dangerously reduced by manning prizes, the privateer refitted 
and sailed on her fourth cruise, Oct. 31st, 1814. This was her 
only unlucky voyage. She ran into a submerged derelict at sea, 
and was so badly damaged that Captain Chever returned to 
Salem for repairs before any capture had been made. Depart- 
ure was made from Salem for the fifth and last cruise on 
Nov. 25, 1814. " On this cruise," writes B. B. Crowninshield 
in an interesting summary of the America's log, "the sea seemed 
to be full of English men-of-war and much of the America's 
time was taken up in dogging and running away from frigates, 
and the crew no doubt realized that danger of capture to which 
they were continually exposed; at all events the log on Jan 8th 
and on each succeeding Sunday records that 'all hands were 
called to prayers,' although prayers were in no way allowed to 
interfere with the management of the ship or the furtherance 
of the purpose for which she was fitted out. They attended 
prayers at intervals before, and had returned thanks for a Merci- 
ful Providence Dec. 11." 

On Feb. 27, the America fell in with the English packet, Prin- 
cess Elizabeth, of 188 tons, armed with six nine-pound carron- 
ades, two long brass nine-pounders, and manned by thirty-two 
men. She proved to be a rarely plucky foeman, and during 
the hot engagement that followed, Captain Chever 's crew exhib- 
ited a skill in gunnery comparable with that of the tars of the 
Constitution and American frigates. Captain Chever describes 
the action in these words: 

363 



The Ships aiid Sailors of Old Salem 

" At half past 4 P.M. saw a sail on our weather bow, made all 
sail in chase of her. At ^ past six P.M. lost sight of the above 
ship. At 9 P.M. wore ship to the S. and E., judging that after 
he lost sight of us he would keep his former course to the East- 
ward. Hauled up our main course. At 6 A.M. saw the above 
ship to the west. Wore ship and stood after him. At 8 A.M. 
still in chase of the above ship, coming up with him very fast. 
He hauled down his signals, fired a gun and hoisted an English 
Ensign and Pennant. At the same time we fired a gun and 
hoisted English colors. At 9 A.M. nearly on his lee quarter, 
hauled down English and hoisted American colors. He im- 
mediately bore away before the wind and gave us a broadside 
which we returned by giving him another, when the action 
became general. At 12 minutes past nine, seeing his colors 
hanging overboard, concluded that he had struck and ceased 
firing, but in two minutes, seeing his fire, commenced firing 
again. At 18 minutes past 9 he surrendered, we receiving no 
loss on board the America neither in men, rigging, sails, or hull. 

" At I past nine boarded him; he proved to be H. B. M. Ship 
Packet Princess Elizabeth, John Forresdale commander, mount- 
ing 8 carriage guns and 32 men, from Rio Janeiro bound to Fal- 
mouth. Her loss was 2 killed and 13 wounded; among the 
latter was the Capt. by a grape shot through the thigh. The 
Packet was very much cut to pieces. She had 8 shot holes 
between wind and water, 3 nine-pound shot in her mainmast, 
just above deck, one in her mizzen mast, and one in her main 
topmast, and one in her fore topmast, with his braces, bowlines 
and part of his shrouds and stays cut away, and about 700 shot 
holes thro' his sails besides a large number through his bul- 
warks. On our approaching them they thought us to be some 
cunning ship with 12 or 14 guns and the rest Quakers. But 
they found their mistake so as to convince them that Quakers 
were not silent at all times. Took out her guns, muskets, 

364 



The Privateers of 1812 



pistols, cutlasses, powder and shot on board the America, and 
gave her up to her original crew, to proceed on to Falmouth, 
after putting on board 6 prisoners, and a quantity of bread, 
as they had on board only 15 pounds for 25 men. Sent our 
Doctor on board to dress the wounded." 

After taking thirteen prizes on this cruise the America re- 
turned to Salem and the last entry in her log reads: 

" April 18. (1814.) At 4 P.M. came to with the best bower in 
seven fathoms and handed all sails and fired a salute of forty 
guns. People all discharged to go on shore. So ends the ship 
America's last cruise." 

During her career as a privateer she had sent safely into port 
twenty-seven British vessels, but her captures much exceeded 
this number. Six of her prizes were retaken on their way to 
America and many more were destroyed at sea. Her officers 
and crew divided more than one half million dollars in prize 
money. More than this, with an American navy so small that 
it could not hope to take the offensive against England's mighty 
sea power, the America had played her part well in crippling 
that maritime commerce which was the chief source of English 
greatness. This beautiful ship never went to sea again. For 
reasons unknown and inexplicable at the present time, she was 
allowed to lay dismantled alongside Crowninshield's wharf in 
Salem until 1831, when she was sold at auction and broken up. 
The Essex Register of June 16th of that year contains this 
melancholy obituary in its advertising columns : 

"Hull, etc. of Ship America 
AT AUCTION 
On Thursday next at 10 o'clock, 
(Necessarily postponed from Thursday) 
Will be sold by auction at the Crowninshield Wharf, 
The Hull of the Privateer Ship America, 
365 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

very heavily copper-fastened, and worthy attention 

for breaking up. 

Also — about 1000 pounds of Powder, 

consisting principally of cannon and musket 

cartridges. 

A quantity of old Iron, Rigging, old Canvas, Blocks 
Spars, — a complete set of Sweeps with a variety of 
other articles. 

The sale will commence with the materials, June 16. 

George Nichols, Auct'r." 

Long after the war Captain Chever, master of a merchant 
vessel, became acquainted in the harbor of Valparaiso with Sir 
James Thompson, captain of the British frigate Dublin. This 
man-of-war had been fitted out with the special object of cap- 
turing the America in 1813. While the two captains chatted 
together in cordial friendliness. Sir James Thompson fell to 
telling stories of his service afloat in chase of the famous Yankee 
privateer. "I was almost within gun-shot of her once, just as 
night was coming on," said he, "but by daylight she had out- 
sailed the Dublin so devilish fast that she was no more than a 
speck on the horizon. And by the way, I wonder if you know 
who it was commanded the America on that cruise.?" Captain 
Chever was glad to answer such an absurdly easy question as 
this, and his former foeman enjoyed the singular coincidence of 
this amicable meeting. 

Even during the years of conflict the Yankee privateersman 
had more sympathy for than hatred of the prisoners whose 
ships they took or destroyed. Far more than the patriot lands- 
man they could feel for these hapless victims of warfare on the 
seas, for they had suffered similar misfortunes at the hands of 
Englishmen, year after year. In an era of nominal peace the 
British navy alone had confiscated more American vessels than 

366 



The Privateers of 1812 



were captured from under the English flag by Yankee privateers 
in the War of 1812. And if the merciless ravages of such fleet 
sea hawks as the America beggared many a British skipper 
whose fate in no way touched the issue of the war, it should be 
remembered, on the other hand, that in every American seaport 
there were broken captains and ruined homes whose irremedi- 
able disasters had been wrought by British authority. 

In order to gain a more intimate realization of the spirit of 
those times, it may be worth while to review a typical incident 
which befell Captain Richard Cleveland of Salem. In 1806 he 
was in command of the ship Telemaco in which he had staked 
all his cash and credit, together with the fortune of his friend 
and partner, Nathaniel Shaler. Their investment in ship and 
cargo amounted to more than fifty thousand dollars won after 
years of maritime risk and adventure in every sea of the globe.* 
He sailed from Rio Janeiro for Havana, and said of the prospects 
of this voyage in a letter to his wife : 

" With what a series of misfortunes have I not been assailed 
for the past three years, and with what confidence can I now 
expect to escape the pirates in the West Indies? I expect to 
meet the British ships of war, but do not fear them, as my busi> 
ness is regular, and such as will bear the nicest scrutiny by 
those who act uprightly; but should I meet with any of those 
privateers the consequence may be serious as they respect the 
property of no one." 

In his published narrative Captain Cleveland made this 
additional comment: 

" But these were precarious times for neutrals, when the two 
great belligerents (England and France) agreed in nothing else 
than plundering them . . . On the presumption, however, 
that such neutral commerce as did not, even in a remote degree, 
prejudice the interests of the belligerents would be unmolested. 



♦See Chapter XVIII. 
367 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

I felt that I had little else than sea-risk to guard against, and 
was therefore free from anxiety on the subject of insurance." 

Near the equator Captain Chever was overhauled by a British 
frigate, and later by a sloop of war, the commanders of both of 
which vessels satisfied themselves of the legality of his voyage 
and very civilly permitted him to go on his way. Convinced 
that he was in no danger from this quarter, Captain Cleveland 
expected a safe arrival in Havana. Near Martinique he hove in 
sight of a British fleet, of which Admiral Cochrane was in com- 
mand on board the Ramillies seventy-four. The American 
shipmaster was summoned on board the flagship, his papers 
carefully examined by the captain, and no cause found for his 
detention. He was sent aboard his ship, and made sail on his 
course with a happy heart. Scarcely was he under way when 
Admiral Cochrane signalled him to heave to again, and without 
deigning to question him or look at his papers ordered the ship 
seized and taken to the Island of Tortola for condemnation 
proceedings. These formalities were a farce, the Telemaco 
was confiscated with her cargo and after fruitless efforts to 
obtain a fair hearing, Captain Cleveland wrote: 

"I am now on the point of embarking for home, after being 
completely stripped of the fruits of many years hard toil . . . 
To have practised the self-denial incident to leaving my family 
for so long a time; to have succeeded in reaching Rio Janeiro 
after being dismasted and suffering all the toils and anxieties 
of a voyage of forty-three days in that crippled condition; to 
have surmounted the numerous obstacles and risks attendant 
on the peculiarity of the transactions in port; to have accom- 
plished the business of lading and despatching the vessels in 
defiance of great obstacles, and to perceive the fortune almost 
within my grasp which would secure me ease and independence 
for the remainder of my life, and then, by the irresistable means 
of brute force, to see the whole swept off, and myself and family 

368 



The Privateers of 1812 



thereby reduced in a moment from affluence to poverty, must 
be admitted as a calamity of no ordinary magnitude. . . . 
After the villainy I have seen practised, at Tortola, by men 
whose power and riches not only give them a currency among 
the most respectable, but make their society even courted, 
I blush for the baseness of mankind and almost lament that I 
am one of the same species." 

In the list of Salem privateers of 1812, one finds that few of 
them were in the same class with the splendid and formidable 
America. Indeed, some were as audaciously equipped, manned 
and sailed as the little craft which put to sea in the Revolution. 
For example, among the forty-odd private armed craft hailing 
from Salem during the latter war, there were such absurd 
cock-sparrows as : 

men 



The Active 




20 tons 


2 guns (4 lbs.) 


25 


Black Vomit (boat) 


5 " 


muskets 


16 


Castigator (launch) 


10 " 


1 6 lb. carronade 


20 


Fame 




30 " 


2 61b. 


30 


Orion (boat) 




5 " 


muskets 


20 


Phoenix 




20 " 


161b. 


25 


Terrible (boat) 




5 " 


muskets 


16 



The schooner Helen was a merchant vessel loaned by her 
owners to a crew of volunteers for the special purpose of cap- 
turing the Liverpool Packet, a venturesome English privateer 
which for several months had made herself the terror of all 
vessels entering Massachusetts Bay. She clung to her cruising 
ground off Cape Cod and evaded the privateers sent in search 
of her. At last the seamen of Salem determined to clip her 
wings, and the notion was most enthusiastically received. The 
Helen was fitted out and seventy volunteers put on board in 
the remarkably brief time of four hours. Captains Upton 
and Tibbetts, the leaders of the expedition, organized a parade 
through the Salem streets, led by a flag bearer, a fifer and 

369 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

drummer, and had not made the circuit of the town before the 
full crew was enlisted. Four six-pounders were borrowed from 
the privateer John, and before nightfall of the same day the 
Helen was heading for sea. Some of her crew leaped aboard 
as she was leaving the wharf and signed articles while the 
schooner was working down the harbor. They failed to over- 
haul the Liverpool Packet which had sailed for Halifax to refit, 
but their spirit was most praiseworthy. The English privateer 
was captured later by another Yankee vessel. 

The Grand Turk was one of the finest privateers of the war, 
an East India ship of 310 tons, fitted out with eighteen guns 
and one hundred and fifty men. Her commanders were 
Holten J. Breed and Nathan Green who made brilliantly suc- 
cessful cruises. After one cruise of one hundred and three days 
she returned to Salem with only forty-four of her crew on board, 
the remainder having been put into prizes of which she had 
captured eight, one of them with a cargo invoiced at a hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. Her log describes several astonish- 
ing escapes from British cruisers in which she showed a nimble 
pair of heels that won her the name of being one of the fastest 
armed ships afloat. During her last cruise. Captain Nathan 
Green made the following entries: 

"Friday, March 10 (1815), at daylight the man at the mast- 
head descried a sail in the eastern quarter. Called all hands 
immediately and made sail in chase. Soon after saw another 
sail on the weather bow. Still in pursuit of the chase and 
approaching her fast. At 6:30 passed very near the second 
sail, which was a Portuguese schooner standing W.S.W. At 
7 :00 saw third sail three points on our lee bow, the chase a ship. 
At 8:00 discovered the third to be a large ship by the wind to 
the north and westward. At 10 :00 being | of a mile to wind- 
ward discovered the chase to be a frigate, endeavoring to decoy 
us. Tacked ship and she immediately tacked and made all 

370 




Caj)t. Holten J. Breed, CDiniiiaiider of the 
jirivateer Grand Turk 




^.^t. 



The privateer (Jrand Turk 



ih 



The Privateers of 1812 



sail in pursuit of us. Soon perceived we had the superiority of 
saihng, displayed the American flag and fired a shot in defiance. 
At 11:00 the wind hauled suddenly to the westward. The 
frigate received a favorable breeze which caused her to lay 
across and nearing us fast. At 11:30, the frigate within gun- 
shot, got out our sweeps and made considerable progress, 
although calm and a short head sea. Frigate commenced 
firing, got out her boats and attempted to tack four different 
times but did not succeed. Hoisted our colors and gave her a 
number of shot. A ship to leeward, a frigate also. At noon 
swept our brig round with her head to the northward, and 
having the wind more favorable, left the chaser considerably. 
The day ends with extreme sultry weather and both ships in 
pursuit of us. 

"Saturday, March 11, at dark, frigates using every exertion 
to near us. 

" Sunday, March 12, at 1 :30 p.m. saw two sail two points on 
our lee bow, soon discovered them to be the two frigates still 
in pursuit of us and much favored by the breeze. At 5 P.M. 
light variable winds with us and the enemy still holding the 
breeze. Took to our sweeps. At dark the enemy's ships 
bore S.S.W. 

" ? fonday, March 13, at 2 P.M. the enemy having been out 
of ' 'it 4^ hours, concluded to get down the foretopmast and 
re 3 it with a new one. All hands busily employed. At 
4 acocried a second sail ahead standing for us. At 5 :30 got the 
new foretopmast and top gallant mast in place, rigging secured, 
yards aloft and made sail in pursuit of the latter. At 7 came up 
and boarded her; she proved to be a Portuguese brig bound 
from ^ ihia to Le Grande with a cargo of salt. Finding our- 
selvt j discovered by the British cruisers, and being greatly 
encumbered with prisoners, concluded to release them and 
acco'-'-ngly paroled five British prisoners and discharged ten 

371 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Spaniards and put them on board the brig after giving a neces- 
sary supply of provisions. 

"Saturday, March 18, at 2 P.M., came up and spoke a Portu- 
guese brig from Africa bound to Rio Janeiro with a cargo of 
slaves. Filled away in pursuit of a second sail in the N.W. 
At 4:30 she hoisted English colors and commenced firing her 
stern guns. At 5 :20 took in the steering sails, at the same time 
she fired a broadside. We opened a fire from our larboard 
battery, and at 5:30 she struck her colors. Got out the boats 
and boarded her. She proved to be the British brig Acorn 
from Liverpool for Rio Janeiro, mounting fourteen cannon and 
having a cargo of dry goods. At 5 :30 we received the first boat 
load of goods aboard. Employed all night in discharging her. 

"Sunday, March 19, at daylight saw two frigates and a brig 
on the lee beam in chase of us. Took a very full boatload of 
goods on board, manned out the prize with Joseph Phippen 
and eleven men and ordered her for the United States. As the 
prize was in a good plight for sailing, I have great reason to 
think she escaped. One of the frigates pursued us for three- 
quarters of an hour, but finding that she had her old antagonist 
gave up the pursuit. Having on board one hundred and sixty- 
odd bales, boxes, cases and trunks of goods, which I conceive 
is very valuable, and the brigs copper and rigging being very 
much out of repair, and the water scant, concluded to return 
home with all possible dispatch. As another inducement I 
have information of a treaty of peace being signed at Ghent 
between the United States and Great Britain, and only remains 
to be ratified by the former. 

"Wednesday, March 29, at 4 A.M. saw a sail to windward 
very near us, and tacked in pursuit of her. At 8:30 came up 
with and boarded her. She proved to be a Portuguese ship 
from Africa bound to Maranham with 474 slaves on board. 
Paroled and put on board eleven British prisoners. 

372 



The Privateers of 1812 



"Saturday, April 15, boarded the American schooner Commit 
of and from Alexandria for Barbadoes with a cargo of flour. 
They gave us the joyful tidings of peace between America and 
England, which produced the greatest rejoicing throughout the 
ship's company. 

"Saturday, April 29, 1815, at 7:30 A.M. saw Thatchers 
Island bearing N.W. At 8 saw Bakers Island bearing west. 
At 9:30 came to anchor in Salem harbor, cleared decks, and 
saluted the town. This ends the cruise of 118 days." 

Captain Nathan Green was a modest man, and his log, if 
taken alone, would indicate that his escapes from British frigates 
were most matter of fact incidents. The fact is, however, that 
these events of his cruise were made notable by rarely brilliant 
feats of seamanship and calculated daring. The scene of 
action began off the coast of Pernambuco, in which port Captain 
Green had learned that eight English merchant vessels were 
making ready to sail. He took prize after prize in these waters, 
until the English assembled several cruisers for the express 
purpose of capturing the bold privateer. The frigates which 
chased him were part of this squadron, and he not only eluded 
their combined attempts, but continued to make captures almost 
in sight of the enemy. His log shows that the pursuit, in which 
both the Grand Turk and the frigate were towed by their boats, 
and sweeps manned for a night and a day was as thrilling and 
arduous a struggle as that famous escape of the Constitution 
from a powerful British squadron in the same war. The two 
ships were within firing distance of each other for hours on end, 
and after a second frigate joined in the hunt, the Grand Turk 
managed to keep her distance only by the most prodigious pluck 
and skill. 

The records of the Salem Marine Society contain the following 
compact account of the most spectacular engagement of an 
illustrious fighting privateersman of Salem : 

373 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" Capt. Benjamin Upton commanded the private armed brig 
Montgomery, one hundred and sixty-five tons, armed with 
eighteen guns. While on a cruise off Surinam, December 5, 
1812, at 3 P.M., made a sail standing northward, which proved 
to be a large English packet brig with troops. She hauled up 
her courses and stood toward the Montgoviery, which was pre- 
pared to receive her at 7 P.M. After exchanging shots and 
wearing, the Montgomery ordered her to send a boat on board, 
which she refused to do. Then commenced a terrible conflict. 
The Montgomery delivered her broadside, which was returned, 
and continued till 8 o'clock, when her antagonist laid the Mont- 
gomery aboard on the starboard waist, his port anchor catching 
in after gun port, his spritsail yard and jib-boom sweeping over 
the waist guns. In this situation the Montgomery kept up a 
fire of musketry and such guns as could be brought to bear, 
which was returned with musketry by regular platoons of sol- 
diers. In this way the fight continued for fifty minutes. The 
Montgomery finally filled her foretop-sail and parted from the 
enemy, breaking his anchor, making a hole in the Montgomery's 
deck, breaking five stanchions and staving ten feet of bulwark, 
with standing rigging much cut up. She hauled off for repairs, 
having four men killed and twelve wounded, among whom were 
Capt. Upton and Lieut. John Edwards of this society. It was 
thought prudent to get north into cooler weather, on account of 
the wounded. The enemy stood to the northward after a part- 
ing shot. On the Montgomery's deck were found three board- 
ing pikes, one musket and two pots of combustible matter, in- 
tended to set fire to the Montgomery, and which succeeded, but 
was finally extinguished. This was one of the hardest contests 
of the war. The Montgomery was afterwards commanded by 
Capt. Jos. Strout, and captured by H. M. ship of the line. La 
Hoge, and taken to Halifax. When Capt. Strout with his son, 
who was with him, were going alongside of the ship in the 

374 



The Privateers oj 1812 



launch, another son, a prisoner on board, hailed the father and 
asked where mother was, which would have comprised the whole 
family." 

By the end of the year 1813 the prizes captured by Salem 
privateers had been sold for a total amount of more than six 
hundred thousand dollars. Many of the finest old mansions 
of the Salem of to-day, great square-sided homes of noble and 
generous aspect, were built in the decade following the War of 
1812, from prize money won by owners of privateers. While 
ship owners risked and equipped their vessels for profit in this 
stirring business of privateering, the spirit of the town is to be 
sought more in such incidents as that of Doctor Bentley's ride to 
Marblehead on a gun carriage. The famous Salem parson was 
in the middle of a sermon when Captain George Crowninshield 
appeared at a window at the old East Church, and engaged in an 
agitated but subdued conversation with Deacon James Brown, 
whose pew was nearest him. Doctor Bentley's sermon halted 
and he asked : 

" Mr. Brown, is there any news.''" 

" The Constitidion has put into Marblehead with two British 
cruisers after her, and is in danger of capture," was the startling 
reply. 

"This is a time for action," shouted Doctor Bentley. "Let 
us go to do what we can to save the Constitution, and may God 
be with us, Amen." 

At the head of his congregation the parson rushed down the 
aisle and hurried toward Marblehead. The alarm had spread 
through the town, and Captain Joseph Ropes had assembled 
the Sea Fencibles, a volunteer coast guard two hundred strong. 
Doctor Bentley was their chaplain, and his militant flock 
hoisted him on board the gun which they were dragging with 
them, and thus he rode in state to Marblehead. Meantime, 
however. Captain Joseph Perkins, keeper of the Baker Island 

375 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Light, had put off to the Constitution in a small boat, and offer- 
ing his services as pilot, brought the frigate inside the harbor 
where she was safe from pursuit by the Endymion and the 
Tenedos. 

The ill-fated duel between the Chesapeake and the Shannon 
was fought off Boston harbor, and was witnessed by thousands 
of people from Marblehead and Salem who crowded to the 
nearest headlands. They saw the Chesapeake strike to the 
British frigate after a most desperate combat in which Captain 
Lawrence was mortally hurt. The captured American ship 
was taken to Halifax by the Shannon. Soon the news reached 
Salem that the commander whose last words, " Don't give up 
the Ship," were to win him immortality in defeat, was dead in 
a British port, and the bronzed sea-dogs of the Salem Marine 
Society resolved to fetch his body home in a manner befitting his 
end. Capt. George Crowninshield obtained permission from 
the Government to sail with a flag of truce for Halifax, and he 
equipped the brig Henry for this sad and solemn mission. 
Her crew was picked from among the shipmasters of Salem, 
some of them privateering captains, every man of them a proven 
deep-water commander, and thus manned the brig sailed for 
Halifax. It was such a crew as never before or since took a 
vessel out of an American port. They brought back to Salem 
the body of Capt. James Lawrence and Lieut. Augustus Ludlow 
of the Chesapeake, and the brave old seaport saw their funeral 
column pass through its quiet and crowded streets. The pall- 
bearers bore names, some of which thrill American hearts to-day; 
Hull, Stuart, Bainbridge, Blakely, Creighton and Parker, all 
captains of the Navy. A Salem newspaper thus describes the 
ceremonies : 

" The day was unclouded, as if no incident should be wanting 
to crown the mind with melancholy and woe — the wind blew 
from the same direction and the sea presented the same unruffled 

376 



The Privateers of 1812 



surface as was exhibited to our anxious view when on the memor- 
able first day of July, we saw the immortal Lawrence proudly 
conducting his ship to action. . . . The brig Henry, con- 
taining the precious relics, clad in sable, lay at anchor in the 
harbor. At half-past twelve o'clock they were placed in barges, 
and, preceded by a long procession of boats filled with seamen 
uniformed in blue jackets and trousers, with a blue ribbon on 
their hats bearing the motto of " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," 
were rowed by minute-strokes to the end of India Wharf, where 
the bearers were ready to receive the honored dead. From the 
time the boats left the brig until the bodies were landed, the 
United States brig Rattlesnake and the brig Henry alternately 
fired minute guns. 

"The immense concourse of citizens which covered the 
wharves, stores and house tops to view the boats, the profound 
silence which pervaded the atmosphere, broken only by the 
reverberations of the minute-guns, rendered this part of the 
solemnities peculiarly grand and impressive. 

"Conspicuous in the procession and in the church were a 
large number of naval and military ofiicers, also the Salem 
Marine and East India Marine Societies, wearing badges, with 
the Masonic and other organizations, 

" On arriving at the Meeting house, the cofiins were placed in 
the center of the church by the seamen who rowed them ashore, 
and who stood during the ceremony leaning upon them in an 
attitude of mourning. The church was decorated with cj^ress 
and evergreen, and the names of Lawrence and Ludlow ap- 
peared in gilded letters in front of the pulpit. 

The remains of Lawrence rested in the Salem burying ground 
until 1849 when they were removed to New York, where in 
the churchyard of Old Trinity, his monument bears the line 
that can never die: 

"Don't Give up the Ship." 
377 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE TRAGEDY OF THE "FRIENDSHIP" 
(1831) 

THE first American vessel to load pepper on the coast of 
Sumatra was the Salem schooner Rajah in 1795, and 
the last ship under the stars and stripes to seek a cargo 
on that coast was the Australia of Salem in 1860. Between 
these years the trade with that far off island was chiefly in the 
hands of the merchants and shipmasters of Salem. When the 
United States frigate Potomac was ordered to the East Indies 
seventy-five years ago with instructions to prepare charts and 
sailing directions of the Sumatra coast to aid American mariners, 
her commander reported that "this duty has been much more 
ably performed than it could have been with our limited ma- 
terials. For this important service our country is indebted to 
Captain Charles M. Endicott and Captain James D. Gillis of 
Salem, Massachusetts. The former, who was master of the 
Friendship when she was seized by the Malays at Quallah- 
Battoo has been trading on this coast for more than fifteen years, 
during which period he has, profitably for his country, filled up 
the delay incident to a pepper voyage, by a careful and reliable 
survey of the coast, of which no chart was previously extant 
that could be relied on." 

Captain Endicott of the Friendship not only risked his vessel 
amid perils of stranding along these remote and uncharted 
shores, but also encountered the graver menaces involved in 
trading with savage and treacherous people who were continu- 

378 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



ally on the alert to murder the crews and capture the ships of 
these dauntless American traders. Notwithstanding all of 
Captain Endicott's precautions and shrewdness born of long 
experience, he was at length overtaken by the fate which befell 
others of these pioneers in Malaysian waters. The story of the 
tragedy of the Friendship is typical of the adventures of the 
Salem shipmasters of the long ago, and Captain Endicott, like 
many of his fellow mariners, possessed the gift of writing such a 
narrative in a clean-cut, and vigorous fashion which makes it 
well worth while presenting in his own words. Perhaps because 
they told of things simply as they had known and seen and done 
them, without straining after literary effect, these old-fashioned 
sea captains of Salem were singularly capable writers, self-taught 
and educated as they were, jumping from school to the fore- 
castle at twelve or fourteen years of age. 

For the entertainment of his comrades and friends of Salem, 
Captain Endicott put pen to paper and told them what had 
happened to him and his ship on the coast of Sumatra in the 
year of 1831. Somewhat condensed, this virile chapter of salt- 
water history runs as follows : 

"The ship Friendship, of this place, under my command, 
sailed from Salem for the west coast of Sumatra, with a crew of 
seventeen men, including officers and seamen, on the 26th of 
May, 1830. On the 22d September following we touched first 
at the port of Qualah Battoo (i.e., in English, Rocky River), 
in Lat. 3.48 m. North. This place is inhabited by natives from 
the Pedir coast, on the north of the island (of Sumatra), as well 
as Acheenise, and is therefore governed jointly by a Pedir and an 
Acheenise Rajah. We remained here for the purposes of trade, 
until the 5th of November following, at which time, having 
obtained all the pepper of the old crop, and the new pepper not 
coming in until March or April, we left that port, and in prosecu- 

379 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

tion of our voyage visited several others, and finally returned 
to Pulo Kio {i.e., in English, Wood Island), about two miles 
from Qualah Battoo, the latter part of January, 1831, intending 
to remain there until the coming in of the pepper crop. 

"One bright moonlight night, shortly after our arrival at 
this place, I was awakened by the watch informing me that a 
native boat was approaching the ship in a very stealthy manner, 
and under suspicious circumstances. I immediately repaired 
on deck, and saw the boat directly in our wake under the stern, 
the most obvious way to conceal herself from our observation, 
and gradually approaching us with the utmost caution, without 
the least noise or apparent propelling power, the oars being 
struck so lightly in the water that its surface was scarcely ruffled. 
Having watched their proceedings a few minutes, we became 
convinced it was a reconnoitering party, sent to ascertain how 
good a look-out was kept on board the ship, and intending to 
surprise us for no good purpose. 

" We therefore hailed them in their own dialect, asking them 
where they came from, what they wanted, and why they were 
approaching the ship in such a tiger-like manner. We could 
see that all was instantly life and animation on board her, and 
after a few moments we received an answer that they were 
friends from Qualah Battoo, with a load of smuggled pepper, 
which they were desirous to dispose of to us. We, however, 
positively forbade them to advance any nearer the ship, or to 
come alongside; but, after considerable discussion, we at 
length gave our consent for them to come abreast the ship at a 
respectful distance, and we would send some of our own men 
on board to ascertain if their story was correct, and if there was 
nothing suspicious about her, on their giving up their side arms 
we would rig a whip upon the main yard, and in this way take 
on board their pepper, and allow one man to come on board 
ship to look after it. 

380 




Tho Battle of Qualah Battoo. 



i 

Ell 



'^4 







All old })r()a(lsi(le. rt'latiiii,' the iiiridcnts of the hattle of (^uahih ]5attoo 



I 



J 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



"All our own crew had, in the mean time, been mustered 
and armed, and a portion of them placed as sentinels on each 
side the gangway. In this manner we passed on board some 
fifty or sixty bags of pepper. We were afterwards informed by 
the second officer, that while this was going forward, the chief 
officer, who subsequently lost his life, was secretly scoffing at 
these precautions, attributing them to cowardice, and boasting he 
could clear the decks of a hundred such fellows with a single 
handspike. This boat, we ascertained, was sent by a young 
man named Po Qualah, the son of the Pedir Rajah, for the 
express purpose which we had suspected; the pepper having 
been put on board merely as an excuse in case they should be 
discovered. It was only a sort of parachute, let off to see from 
wliat quarter the wand blew, as a guide for their evil designs 
upon us. 

" Ascertaining, however, by this artifice, that the ship was too 
vigilantly guarded, at least in the night, to be thus surprised, 
they set themselves at work to devise another plan to decoy 
us to Qualah Battoo, in which, I am sorry to say, they were 
more successful. 

"A few days after this occurrence, a deputation was sent to 
invite us to Qualah Battoo, representing that the new crop of 
pepper was beginning to make its appearance, and they could 
now furnish us with from one or two hundred bags per day, 
and would no doubt be enabled to complete loading the ship in 
the course of forty days. Being in pursuit of a cargo, and 
having been always on friendly terms with the natives of this 
place, whom I did not consider worse than those of other parts 
of the coast, and feeling beside some security from the fact 
that we had already been warned by some of our old friends not 
to place too much confidence in any of them, we considered the 
danger but trifling, and therefore concluded a contract with 
them, and proceeded at once with the ship to Qualah Battoo. 

381 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" Strict regulations were then established for the security and 
protection of the ship. In the absence of the captain, not more 
than two Malays were to be permitted on board at the same 
time; and no boats should be allowed to approach her in the 
night time upon any pretence whatever, without calling an 
officer. Then mustering all hands upon the quarterdeck, I 
made a few remarks, acquainting them with my apprehensions, 
and impressing on their minds the importance of a good look-out, 
particularly in the night, and expressed my firm conviction, 
that vigilance alone would prevent the surprise and capture of 
the ship, and the sacrifice of all our lives. Having thus done all 
we could to guard against surprise, and put the ship in as good 
a state of defence as possible, keeping her entire armament in 
good and efficient order, and firing every night an eight o'clock 
gun, to apprise the natives that we were not sleeping upon our 
posts, we commenced taking in pepper, and so continued for 
three or four days, the Malays appearing very friendly. 

"On Monday, February 7, 1831, early in the morning, while 
we were at breakfast, my old and tried friend, Po Adam, a 
native well-known to traders on this coast, came on board in a 
small canoe from his residence at Pulo Kio, in order to proceed 
on shore in the ship's boat, which shortly after started with 
the second officer, four seamen and myself. On our way Po 
Adam expressed much anxiety for the safety of the ship, and also 
an entire want of confidence in Mr. Knight, the first officers 
remarking in his broken English, 'he no look sharp, no under- 
stand Malay-man." 

" On being asked if he really believed his countrymen would 
dare to attack the ship, he replied in the affirmative. I then 
observed to the second officer that it certainly behooved us, the 
boat's crew, who were more exposed than any of the ship's com- 
pany, to be on our guard against surprise and proposed when 
we next came on shore to come prepared to defend ourselves. 

382 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



"When we reached the landing we were kindly received, 
as usual. The natives were bringing in pepper very slowly; 
only now and then a single Malay would make his appearance 
with a bag upon his head, and it was not until nearly three o'clock 
in the afternoon that sufficient was collected to commence weiffh- 
ing; and between three and four o'clock the first boat started 
from the shore. The natives were, however, still bringing in 
pepper, with a promise of another boat load during the day. 
This was a mere subterfuge to keep us on shore, 

" As the boat was passing out of the river, I noticed her stop 
off one of the points, and believing it to be the object of her 
crew to steal pepper, and secrete it among the neighboring high 
grass, two men were sent down to look after them. They soon 
returned, remarking that there appeared to be nothing wrong. 
The ship lay about three-fourths of a mile from the shore, and 
between the scale-house and the beach there was a piece of 
rising ground, so that standing at the scales we could just see 
the ship's topgallant yards. 

" I had observed a vessel in the offing in the course of the day, 
apparently approaching this place or Soosoo, and, being at 
leisure, I walked towards the beach to ascertain if she had 
hoisted any national colours. The instant I had proceeded far 
enough to see our ship's hull, I observed that the pepper-boat, 
which was at this time within two or three hundred feet of her, 
appeared to contain a large number of men. My suspicions 
were instantly aroused, and I returned to question the men who 
were sent down to the mouth of the river. 

"I was then informed, for the first time, that as they had ap- 
proached the boat six or seven Malays jumped up from the high 
grass and rushed on board her; and as she passed out of the 
river, they saw her take in from a passing ferry boat about the 
same number; but as they all appeared to be 'youngsters,' to 
use their own expression, they did not think the circumstance 

383 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

of sufficient importance to mention it. They were reprimanded 
for such an omission of duty, accompanied with the remark : 

Your youngsters, as you call them, will, I suspect, be found 
old enough in iniquity, to capture the ship, if once admitted 
upon her decks.' 

" The words of Po Adam, that morning, that ' Mr. Knight no 
look sharp, no understand Malay-man,' now struck me with 
their full force and a fearful foreboding, and I appealed to 
Mr. Barry, the second officer, for his opinion as to what would be 
Mr. Knight's probable course, remarking '/le certainly will not 
disobey his orders' Mr. Barry, however, expressed his fears 
as to the result, remarking he knew so well the contempt which 
Mr. Knight entertained for these people, ' that he will probably 
conclude your precautions to be altogether unnecessary, and 
that he can allow them to come on board with impunity, without 
your ever knowing anything of the circumstances, and no harm 
will come of it.' 

" This view of the case certainly did not allay my anxiety, and 
I observed, 'if your predictions prove correct, the ship is taken,' 
but concluding it to be altogether too late for us on shore to 
render any assistance to the ship, and still clinging to the hope 
that Mr. Knight would, after all, be faithful to his trust, Mr. 
Barry and two men were directed to walk towards the beach with- 
out any apparent concern, and watch the movements on board. 

"I should have remarked, that on my own way up the beach, 
just before I passed near a tree under the shade of which a 
group of ten or twelve natives were apparently holding a con- 
sultation, all conversation ceased. The object of this meeting, 
as I was afterwards informed, was to consider whether it would 
be better to kill us before attempting to take the ship or after- 
wards; and the conclusion arrived at was to be sure of the ship 
first, the killing of us appearing to them as easy, to use their own 
simile, as cutting oflF the heads of so many fowls; the manner 

384 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



how had already been decided, the time when was all there was 
to be considered — a native having been already appointed, and 
the price fixed for the assassination of each of the boat's crew. 
The price set upon my life was one thousand dollars, for the 
second officer's, five hundred dollars, and for each of the seamen 
one hundred dollars. 

"As soon as Mr. Barry has reached an elevation where he 
could fairly see the ship's hull, he turned short round, and 
walked, without hastening his steps, directly towards me — pass- 
ing me, however, without discovering any emotion, and said, 
'there is trouble on board, sir." 

"To the question 'What did you see?' he replied, 'men 
jumping overboard.' 

" Convinced at once, of our own perilous situation, and that 
our escape depended on extrem.ely cautious and judicious 
management, I answered: 

"'We must show no alarm, but muster the men, and order 
them into the boat.' 

"We deliberately pushed off from the shore, the Malays 
having no suspicion of our design, thinking it to be our intention, 
by our apparently unconcerned manner, to cross the river for a 
stroll in the opposite Bazar as was our frequent custom. The 
moment the boat's stern had left the bank of the river, Po Adam 
sprang into her in a great state of excitement, to whom I ex- 
claimed : 

"'What! do you come, too, Adam?' 

" He answered : ' You got trouble, Captain, if they kill you, 
must kill Po Adam first.' 

" He suggested we should steer the boat as far as possible from 
the western bank of the river, which was here not more than one 
hundred feet wide, when I remarked to the boat's crew: 

"'Now spring to your oars, my lads, for your lives, or we 
are all dead men.' 

385 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

"Adam exhibited the utmost alarm and consternation, 
encouraging my men to exert themselves, and talking English 
and Acheenise both in the same breath — now exclaiming in 
Acheenise, 'di-yoong di yoong hi!' And then exhorting them 
to ' pull, pull strong !' 

" As we doubled one of the points we saw hundreds of natives 
rushing towards the river's mouth, brandishing their weapons, 
and otherwise menacing us. Adam, upon seeing this, was 
struck with dismay, and exclaimed ' if got blunderbuss will kill 
all,' but luckily they were not provided with that weapon. 

" A ferry-boat was next discovered with ten or twelve Malays 
in her, armed with long spears, evidently waiting to intercept 
us. I ordered Mr. Barry into the bows of the boat, with Adam's 
sword, to make demonstrations, and also to con the boat in 
such a manner as to run down the ferry boat, which I concluded 
was our only chance to escape. With headlong impetuosity we 
were rushing towards our antagonist, nerved with the feeling of 
desperation. With profound stillness and breathless anxiety 
we awaited the moment of collision. 

"The points of their pikes could be plainly seen. Already 
I observed Mr. Barry with his sword raised, as if in the act of 
striking. But when we had approached within some twenty 
feet, her crew appeared completely panic-struck, and made 
an effort to get out of our way. It was, however, a close shave 
— so close that one of their spears was actually over the stern 
of our boat. The Malays on the bank of the river appeared 
frantic at our escape, and ran into the water to their armpits in 
their endeavors to intercept us, waving their swords above their 
heads, and shouting at the top of their voices. 

" We had now time calmly to contemplate the scene through 
which we had just passed, with hearts, I trust, grateful to God 
for his kind protection and safe guidance in the midst of its 
perils. This was the part of their plan, otherwise well con- 

386 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



ceived, which was defective — they had taken no measures to 
prevent our escape from the shore, never doubting for a moment 
that our hves were at their disposal, unprotected and defenceless 
as they saw us. 

"Our doomed ship lay tranquilly in the roads, with sails 
furled, and a pepper boat alongside, with a multitude of natives 
in every part of her, and none of her own crew visible, with 
the exception of a man on the top gallant yard, and some ten or 
twelve heads just even with the surface of the water. 

" The pirates were conspicuous in every corner of the Friend- 
ship's deck, waving their cloths, and making signals of success 
to the natives on shore. My first impulse was to propose 
boarding her but I was very properly reminded that if the ship 
with her full armament had been taken with so many of her 
crew on board, we could do nothing in our unarmed state toward 
her recapture. 

"We continued, however, to row towards the ship until we 
could see the Malays pointing her muskets at us from the 
quarterdeck, and they appeared also to be clearing away the 
stern chasers, which we knew to be loaded to their muzzles 
with grape and langrage. At this moment, three large Malay 
boats crowded with men were seen coming out of the river, 
directly tow^ards us. While debating whether it would not be 
best to proceed at once to Muckie for assistance, which was 
some twenty-five miles distant, where we knew two or three 
American vessels were laying, heavy clouds commenced rolling 
down over the mountains, and the rumbling of distant thunder, 
and sharp flashes of lightning gave sure indications that the land 
wind would be accompanied with deluges of rain, rendering the 
night one of Egyptian darkness, in which it would be almost 
impossible to grope our way safely along shore towards that 
place. 

"Under these discouraging prospects, Po Adam advised us 

387 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to proceed to Pulo Kio, and take shelter in his fort. Submitting 
ourselves almost wholly to his guidance, we at once pulled away 
for that place, but before we reached it his heart failed him, 
and he represented his fort as not sufficiently strong to resist 
a vigorous assault, and he would not therefore be responsible 
for our lives, but suggested we should proceed to Soosoo, some 
two miles further from the scene of the outrage. We accord- 
ingly proceeded for Soosoo river, which we had scarcely entered 
when Po Adam's confidence again forsook him, and he advised 
us not to land. We therefore only filled a keg with water from 
the river and came out over the bar, intending to make the 
best of our way to Muckie. 

" The night now came on dark and lowering, and just as we 
left Soosoo river, the land wind, which had been some time 
retarded by a strong sea breeze overtook us, accompanied with 
heavy thunder and torrents of rain, which came pelting down 
upon our unprotected heads. Sharp flashes of lightning occa- 
sionally shot across the gloom, which rendered the scene still 
more fearful. We double manned two of the oars with Mr. 
Barry and Po Adam, and I did the best I could to keep the 
boat's head down the coast, it being impossible to see any 
object on shore, or even to hear the surf by which we could 
judge our distance from it. Having proceeded in this way 
until we began to think ourselves near North Tallapow, off 
which was a dangerous shoal, it became a matter of concern 
how we should keep clear of it. We frequently laid upon our 
oars and listened, to ascertain if we could hear it break. Directly 
we felt the boat lifted upon a high wave, which we knew must 
be the roller upon this shoal, which passing, broke with a 
fearful crash some three or four hundred feet from us. 

"Having thus providentially passed this dangerous spot in 
safety, the weather began to clear a little, and here and there a 
star appeared. The off shore wind, too, became more steady 

388 



I 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



and the rain ceased. We ripped up some gunny bags which 
were left in the boat, and tied them together for a sail, under 
which we found the boat bounded along quite briskly; we 
therefore laid in our oars, all hands being quite exhausted, and 
proceeded in this way the rest of the distance to Muckie, where 
we arrived at about one o'clock, A. M. 

" We found here the ship James Monroe, Porter, of New York, 
brig Governor Endicott, Jenks, of Salem, and brig Palmer, 
Powers, of Boston. On approaching the roads, we were first 
hailed from the Governor Endicott, and to the question 'What 
boat is that?' the response was 'the Friendship, from Qualah 
Battoo,' which answer was immediately followed with the ques- 
tion 'Is that you, Capt. Endicott,' 'Yes,' was the answer, 'with 
all that are left of us.' 

" Having communicated with the other vessels, their comman- 
ders repaired on board the Governor Endicott, when it was 
instantly concluded to proceed with their vessels to Qualah 
Battoo, and endeavor to recover the ship. These vessels were 
laying with most of their sails unbent, but their decks were 
quickly all life and animation, and the work of bending sails 
proceeded so rapidly that before 3 o'clock all the vessels were 
out of the roads and heading up the coast towards Qualah 
Battoo. It was our intention to throw as many of the crews of 
the Governor Endicott and Palmer on board the James Monroe, 
as could be prudently spared, she being the largest vessel, and 
proceed with her directly into the roads, and lay her alongside 
the Friendship, and carry her by boarding — the other vessels 
following at a short distance. But as soon as we had completed 
all our arrangements, and while we were yet several miles 
outside the port, the sea breeze began to fail us, with indications 
that the land wind, like that of the day before, would be accom- 
panied with heavy rain. We, however, stood on towards the 
place until the off shore wind and rain reached us when all 

389 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 



three vessels were obliged to anchor and suspend further opera- 
tions until the next morning. 

" Before dark I had taken the bearings of the ship by com- 
pass, intending, if circumstances favored it, to propose a descent 
upon her during the night; but the heavy rain continued the 
most part of it and we were baffled in that design. 

" Daylight found us upon the decks of the Monroe, watching 
for the ship, which, in the indistinct light, could not be discovered 
in the roads. The horizon in the offing was also searched 
unsuccessfully with our glasses, but we at last discovered her 
close in shore, far to the westward of her late anchorage, inside 
a large cluster of dangerous shoals, to which position, as it then 
appeared, the Malays must have removed her during the night. 
One thing was certain we could not carry out our design of 
running her alongside in her present situation; the navigation 
would be too dangerous for either of the ships. At this moment 
we saw a prou, or Malay trading craft, approaching the roads 
from the westward, with which I communicated, hired a canoe, 
and sent a messenger on shore to inform the Rajahs that if they 
would give the ship up peaceably to us we would not molest 
them, otherwise we should fire both upon her and the town. 

"After waiting a considerable time for the return of the 
messenger, during which we could see boats loaded with plunder 
passing close in shore from the ship, this delay seemed only a 
subterfuge to gain time, and we fired a gun across the bows of 
one of them. In a few minutes the canoe which we had sent 
on shore was seen putting off. The answer received, however, 
was one of defiance: 'that they should not give her up so 
easily, but we might take her i] we could.' 

"All three vessels then opened fire upon the town and ship, 
which was returned by the forts on shore, the Malays also 
firing our ship's guns at us. The first shot from one of the 
forts passed between the masts of the Governor Endicott, not ten 

390 




Tlie Glide (See Chapter XXVI) 




The Fricii(lshij) 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



feet above the heads of the crew, and the second struck the water 
just under her counter. This vessel had been kedged in close to 
the shore within point blank shot of the fort, with springs upon 
her cable, determined on making every gun tell. The spirited 
manner in which their fire was returned soon silenced this fort, 
which mounted six six-pounders and several small brass pieces. 

"It appeared afterward, by the testimony of one of my crew, 
who was confined here, that the firing was so effectual that it 
dismounted their guns and split the carriages. The other two 
forts, situated at a greater distance from the beach, continued 
firing, and no progress was made towards recapturing the ship, 
which, after all, was our only object. It was now between 
three and four o'clock, and it was certain that if the Malays were 
allowed to hold possession of the ship much longer, they would 
either get her on shore or burn her. We then held a council 
of war on board the Monroe, and concluded to board her with 
as large a force as we could carry in three boats; and that the 
command of the expedition should, of course, devolve upon me. 
At this juncture the ship ceased firing. We observed a column 
of smoke rise from her decks abreast the mainmast, and there 
appeared to be great confusion on board. We subsequently 
ascertained that they had blown themselves up by setting fire to 
an open keg of powder from which they were loading the guns 
after having expended all the cartridges. 

"The ship lay with her port side towards us, and, with the 
intention of getting out of the range of her guns, we pulled to 
the westward at an angle of some 33 deg., until we opened her 
starboard bow, when we bore up in three divisions for boarding, 
one at each gangway, and the other over the bows. We were 
now before the wind, and two oars in each boat were suSicient 
to propel them; the rest of the crew, armed to the teeth with 
muskets, cutlasses and pistols, sat quietly in their places, with 
their muskets pointed at the ship as the boats approached. 

391 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" The Malays now, for the first time, seemed to comprehend 
our design, and as we neared the ship, were struck with con- 
sternation, and commenced deserting her with all possible 
dispatch, and in the greatest confusion. The numerous boats 
of all descriptions alongside were immediately filled, and the 
others jumped overboard and swam for the shore. When we 
reached the ship, there was to all appearances no one on board. 
Still fearing some treachery, we approached her with the same 
caution, and boarded her, cutlasses in hand. Having reached 
her decks and finding them deserted, before we laid aside our 
arms a strict search was made with instructions to cut down 
any who should be found and give no quarter. But she was 
completely forsaken — not a soul on board. 

" Her appearance, at the time we boarded her defies descrip- 
tion ; suffice it to say, every part of her bore ample testimony to 
the violence and destruction with which she had been visited. 
That many lives had been sacrificed her blood-stained decks 
abundantly testified. We found her within pistol shot of the 
beach, with most of her sails cut loose and flying from the 
yards. Why they had not succeeded in their attempts to get 
her on shore, was soon apparent. A riding turn on the chain 
around the windlass, which they were not sailors enough to 
clear, had no doubt prevented it. There had been evidently 
a fruitless attempt to cut it off. While we were clearing the 
chain, and preparing to kedge the ship off into the roads, the 
Malays, still bent upon annoying us and unwilling to abandon 
their prize, were seen drawing a gun over the sandy beach upon 
a drag directly under our stern, which, being fired, it jumped 
off the carriage and was abandoned. It was the work of a short 
time for us to kedge the ship off into deep water and anchor her 
in comparative security alongside the other ships in the roads. 

"The next morning a canoe was seen approaching the James 
Monroe from Pulo Kio, with five or six men in her whom we 

392 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



took, as a matter of course, to be natives; but we were soon 
hailed from that ship, and informed that four of the number 
were a part of our own crew. Their haggard and squalid 
appearance bespoke what they had suffered. It would seem 
impossible that in the space of four days, men could, by any 
casualty, so entirely lose their identity. It was only by asking 
their names that I knew any of them. They were without 
clothing other than loose pieces of cotton cloth thrown over 
their persons, their hair matted, their bodies crisped and burnt 
in large, running blisters, besides having been nearly devoured 
by musquitos, the poison of whose stings had left evident traces 
of its virulence ; their flesh wasted away, and even the very tones 
of their voices changed. They had been wandering about in 
the jungle without food ever since the ship was taken. Their 
account of the capture of the ship was as follows : 

"When the pepper-boat came alongside, it was observed by 
the crew that all on board her were strangers. They were also 
better dressed than boatmen generally, all of them having on 
white or yellow jackets, and new ivory-handled kreises. No 
notice appeared to be taken of these suspicious circumstances 
by the mate, and all except two men, who were left to pass up 
pepper, were admitted indiscriminately to come on board. 
One of the crew, named Wm. Parnell, w4io was stationed at the 
gangway to pass along pepper, made some remark, to call the 
mate's attention to the number of natives on board, and was 
answered in a gruff manner, and asked if he was afraid. " No,' 
replied the man, ' not afraid, but I know it to be contrary to the 
regulations of the ship.' 

"He was ordered, with an oath, to pass along pepper and 
mind his own business. The natives were also seen by the 
crew sharpening their kreises upon the grindstone which stood 
upon the forecastle, and a man named Chester, who was subse- 
quently killed while starting pepper down the fore hatch, asked 

393 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

them in pantomine what so many of them wanted on board and 
was answered in the same way, that they came off to see the 
ship. He was heard by one of the crew to say, ' we must look 
out you do not come for anything worse,' at the same time 
drawing a handspike within his reach. 

The Malays had distributed themselves about the decks in 
the most advantageous manner for an attack, and at some 
preconcerted signal a simultaneous assault upon the crew was 
made in every part of the ship. Two Malays were seen by the 
steward to rush with their kreises upon Mr. Knight, who was 
very badly stabbed in the back and side, the weapons appearing 
to be buried in his body up to their very hilts. Chester at the 
fore hatch, notwithstanding his distrust and precaution, was 
killed outright and supposed to have fallen into the hold. The 
steward at the galley was also badly wounded, and was only 
saved from death by the kreis striking hard against a short rib, 
which took the force of the blow. Of the two men on the stage 
over the ship's side, one was killed and the other so badly 
wounded as to be made a cripple for life. 

"The chief officer was seen, after he was stabbed, to rush aft 
upon the starboard side of the quarterdeck and endeavor to 
get a boarding pike out of the beckets abreast the mizzen 
rigging, where he was met by Parnell to whom he exclaimed, 
'do your duty.' At the same instant two or three Malays rushed 
upon him and he was afterwards seen lying dead near the 
same spot, with a boarding pike under him. 

"On the instant the crew found the ship attacked, they 
attempted to get aft into the cabin for arms but the Malays 
had placed a guard on each side of the companion-way which 
prevented them; they then rushed forward for handspikes and 
were again intercepted; and being completely bewildered, 
surprised and defenceless, and knowing that several of their 
shipmates had already been killed outright before their eyes, 

394 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



and others wounded, all who could swim plunged overboard, 
and the others took to the rigging or crept over the bows out 
of sight. The decks were now cleared and the pirates had 
full possession of the ship. 

"The men in the water then consulted together what they 
should do, concluding it certain death to return to the ship; 
and they determined it would be the safest to swim on shore, 
and secrete themselves in the jungle; but as they approached 
it they observed the beach about Qualah Battoo lined with 
natives, and they proceeded more to the westward and landed 
upon a point called Ouj'ong Lamah Moodah nearly two miles 
distant from the ship. On their way they had divested them- 
selves of every article of clothing, and they were entirely naked 
at the time they landed. 

" As it was not yet dark, they sought safety and seclusion in 
the jungle, from whence they emerged as soon as they thought 
it safe, and walked upon the beach in the direction of Cape 
Felix and Annalaboo, intending to make the best of their way 
to the latter place, with the hope of meeting there some Amierican 
vessel. At daylight they sought a hiding-place again in the 
bushes, but it afforded them only a partial protection from 
the scorching rays of the sun from which, being entirely naked, 
they experienced the most dreadful effects. Hunger and 
thirst began also to make demands upon them; but no food 
could anywhere be found. They tried to eat grass, but their 
stomachs refused it. They found a few husks of the cocoanut, 
which they chewed, endeavoring to extract some nourishment 
from them but in vain. 

" They staid in their hiding-place the whole of this day, and 
saw Malays passing along the beach but were afraid to discover 
themselves. At night they pursued their journey again, during 
which they passed several small streams, where they slaked 
their thirst but obtained no food. About midnight they came 

395 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to a very broad river, which they did not venture to cross. The 
current was very rapid, and having been thirty-six hours without 
food of any kind, they did not dare attempt swimming it. Here, 
then, they were put completely hors de combat; they found for 
want of food their energies were fast giving way, and still they 
believed their lives depended on not being discovered. 

"Since further progress towards Annalaboo appeared im- 
possible, they resolved to retrace their steps, endeavor to pass 
Qualah Battoo in the night without being discovered and reach 
the hospitable residence of Po Adam, at Pulo Kio. They 
accordingly took up their line of march towards that place, 
and reached, as they supposed, the neighborhood of Cape 
Felix by the morning, when they again retreated to the jungle, 
where they lay concealed another day, being Wednesday, 
the day of the recapture of the ship, but at too great distance to 
hear the firing. At night they again resumed their journey, 
and having reached the spot where the Malays landed in so 
much haste when they deserted the ship, they found the beach 
covered with canoes, a circumstance which aroused their 
suspicions but for which they were at a loss to account. 

"They now concluded to take a canoe as the most certain 
way of passing Qualah Battoo without discovery, and so proceed 
to Pulo Kio. As they passed the roads, they heard one of the 
ship's bells strike the hour, and the well-known cry of 'All's 
Well,' but fearing it was some decoy of the natives, they would 
not approach her but proceeded on their way, and landed at 
Pulo Kio, secreting themselves once more in the jungle, near the 
residence of Po Adam until the morning, when four naked and 
half-famished white men were seen to emerge from the bushes 
and approach his fori with feeble steps. As soon as recognized 
they were welcomed by him with the strongest demonstrations 
of delight; slapping his hands, shouting at the top of his lungs, 
and in the exuberance of his joy committing all kinds of extrava- 

396 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



gances. They now heard of the recapture of the ship, and the 
escape of the boat's crew on shore, who, it had never occurred 
to them, were not ah'eady numbered with the dead. 

"Having refreshed themselves (being the first food they had 
tasted in seventy -two hours), they were conveyed by Adam and 
his men on board the James Monroe in the pitiful condition of 
which we have before spoken. 

"In the course of the latter part of the same day, another 
canoe, with a white flag displayed, was observed approaching 
the fleet from the direction of Qualah Battoo, containing three 
or four Chinamen who informed us that four of our own men, 
two of whom were wounded, one very severely, were at their 
houses on shore, where their wounds had been dressed and 
they had been otherwise cared for; and that we could ransom 
them of the Rajahs at ten dollars each. To this I readily 
agreed, and they were soon brought off to the ship in a sampan, 
and proved to be Charles Converse and Gregorie Pedechio, 
seamen, Lorenzo Migell, cook, and William Francis, steward. 

"Converse was laid out at full length upon a board, as if 
dead, evidently very badly wounded. The story of the poor 
fellow was a sad one. He, with John Davis, being the two 
tallest men in the ship, were on the stage over the side when 
she was attacked. Their first impulse was, to gain the ship's 
decks, but they were defeated in this design by the pirates who 
stood guard over the gangway and making repeated thrusts at 
them. They then made a desperate attempt to pass over the 
pepper-boat, and thus gain the water, in doing which they 
were both most severely wounded. Having reached the water. 
Converse swam round to the ship's bows and grasped the 
chain, to which he clung as well as he was able, being badly 
crippled in one of his hands, with other severe wounds in various 
parts of his body. When it became dark, he crawled up over 
the bows as well as his exhausted strength from the loss of blood 

397 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

would permit, and crept to the foot of the forecastle stairs, where 
he supposed he must have fainted, and fell prostrate upon the 
floor without the power of moving himself one inch further. 

" The Malays believing him dead, took no heed of him, but 
traveled up and down over his body the whole night. Upon 
attempting to pass over the boat, after being foiled in his en- 
deavor to reach the ship's decks, a native made a pass at his 
head with his ' parrung,' a weapon resembling most a butcher's 
cleaver, which he warded off by throwing up his naked arm, 
and the force of the blow fell upon the outerpart of his hand, 
severing all the bones and sinews belonging to three of his 
fingers, and leaving untouched only the fore finger and thumb. 
Besides this he received a kreis wound in the back which must 
have penetrated to the stomach, for he bled from his mouth 
the most part of the night. He was likewise very badly wounded 
just below the groin, which came so nearly through the leg as 
to discolor the flesh upon the inside. 

" Wonderful, however, to relate, notwithstanding the want of 
proper medical advice, and with nothing but the unskillful 
treatment of three or four shipmasters, the thermometer ranging 
all the time, from 85 to 90 deg., this man recovered from his 
wounds, but in his crippled hand he carried the marks of 
Malay perfidy to his watery grave, having been drowned at 
sea from on board of the brig Fair America, in the winter of 
1833-4, which was, no doubt, occasioned by this wound which 
unfitted him for holding on properly while aloft. 

"The fate of his companion Davis, was a tragical one. He 
could not swim, and after reaching the water was seen to struggle 
hard to gain the boat's tackle-fall at the stern, to which he clung 
until the Malays dropped the pepper boat astern, when he was 
observed apparently imploring mercy at their hands, which the 
wretches did not heed, but butchered him upon the spot. 

" Gregory was the man seen aloft when we had cleared the 

398 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



river, cutting strange antics which we did not at the time com- 
prehend. By his account, when he reached the fore top- 
gallant yard, the pirates commenced firing the ship's muskets 
at him, which he dodged by getting over the front side of the 
yard and sail and down upon the collar of the stay, and then 
reversing the movement. John Masury related that after being 
wounded in the side, he crept over the bows of the ship and 
down upon an anchor, where he was sometime employed in 
dodging the thrusts of a boarding pike in the hands of a Malay, 
until the arrival of a reinforcement from the shore when every 
one fearing lest he should not get his full share of plunder, 
ceased further to molest the wounded. 

" The ship, the first night after her capture, according to the 
testimony of these men, was a perfect pandemonium, and a 
Babel of the most discordant sounds. The ceaseless moaning 
of the surf upon the adjacent shore, the heavy peals of thunder, 
and sharp flashings of lightning directly over their heads, the 
sighing of the wind in wild discords through the rigging, like 
the wailings of woe from the manes of their murdered ship- 
mates; and all this intermingled with the more earthly sounds 
of the squealing of pigs, the screeching of fowls, the cackling 
of roosters, the unintelhgible jargon of the natives, jangling 
and vociferating, with horrible laughter, shouts and yells, in 
every part of her, and in the boats alongside carrying off plunder, 
their black figures unexpectedly darting forth from every unseen 
quarter, as if rising up and again disappearing through the 
decks, and gambolling about in the dark, must have been like 
a saturnalia of demons. 

"It is the general impression that Malays, being Musselmen, 
have a holy horror of swine, as unclean animals; the very 
touch of which imposes many ablutions and abstinence from 
food for several days together, but, according to the testimony 
of my men, it was perfectly marvellous how they handled those 

399 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

on board our ship, going in their pens, seizing, struggHng, and 
actually embracing them, until they succeeded in throwing 
every one overboard. 

"The morning succeeding the capture of the Friendship, 
affairs on board appeared to be getting to be a little more settled, 
when several Chinamen came off and performed the part of good 
Samaritans, taking the wounded men on shore to their houses, 
and dressing their wounds with some simple remedies which at 
least kept down inflammation. In doing this, however, they 
were obliged to barricade their dwellings, to guard them against 
the insulting annoyances of the natives. 

"Qualah Battoo bazar that day presented a ludicrous spec- 
tacle. Almost every Malay was decked out in a white, blue, 
red, checked, or striped shirt, or some other European article 
of dress or manufacture stolen from the ship, not even excepting 
the woolen table cloth belonging to the cabin, which was seen 
displayed over the shoulders of a native, all seemingly quite 
proud of their appearance, and strutting about with solemn 
gravity and oriental self-complacency. Their novel and gro- 
tesque appearance could not fail to suggest the idea that a tribe 
of monkeys had made a descent upon some unfortunate clothing 
establishment, and each had seized and carried off whatever 
article of dress was most suited to his taste and fancy. 

"The ship was now once more in our possession, with what 
remained of her cargo and crew. She was rifled of almost 
every movable article on board, and scarcely anything but her 
pepper remaining. Of our outward cargo every dollar of 
of specie, and every pound of opium had, of course, become a 
prey to them. All her spare sails and rigging were gone — not 
a needle or ball of twine, palm, marling spike, or piece of rope 
were left! All our charts, chronometers and other nautical 
instruments — all our clothing and bedding, were also gone; 
as well as our cabin furniture and small stores of every descrip- 

400 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



tion. Our ship's provisions, such as beef, pork and most of 
our bread, had, however, been spared. Of our armament 
nothing but the large guns remained. Every pistol, musket, 
cutlass, and boarding pike, with our entire stock of powder, 
had been taken. 

" With assistance from the other vessels we immediately began 
making the necessary preparations to leave the port with all 
possible dispatch, but owing to much rainy weather we did not 
accomplish it for three days after recapturing the ship, when 
we finally succeeded in leaving the place in company with the 
fleet bound for South Tallapow, where we arrived on the four- 
teenth of February. "When we landed at this place with the 
other masters and supercargoes, we were followed through the 
streets of the bazar by the natives in great crowds, exulting and 
hooting, with exclamations similar to these : 

"'Who great man now, Malay or American?' 'How many 
man American dead.'*' 'How many man Malay dead?' 

"We now commenced in good earnest to prepare our ship 
for sea. Our voyage had been broken up, and there was 
nothing left for us but to return to the United States. We 
finally left Muckie, whither we had already proceeded, on the 
twenty-seventh of February, for Pulo Kio (accompanied by the 
ship Delphos, Capt. James D. Gillis, and the Gov. Endicott, Capt 
Jenks), where I was yet in hopes to recover some of my nautical 
instruments. With the assistance of Po Adam, I succeeded in 
obtaining, for a moderate sum, my sextant and one of my 
chronometers, which enabled me to navigate the ship. We 
sailed from Pulo Kio on the fourth of March, and arrived at 
Salem on the sixteenth of July. 

"The intense interest and excitement caused by our arrival 
home may still be remembered. It being nearly calm, as we ap- 
proached the harbor we were boarded several miles outside by 
crowds of people, all anxious to learn the most minute par- 

401 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

ticulars of our sad misfortune, the news of which had preceeded 
us by the arrival of a China ship at New York which we had 
met at St. Helena. The curiosity of some of our visitors was 
so great that they would not be satisfied until they knew the 
exact spot where every man stood, who was either killed or 
wounded. Even the casing of the cabin, so much cut up in 
search of money or other valuables, was an object of the greatest 
interest. 

"But the feeling of presumptuous exultation and proud 
defiance exhibited by the natives, was of brief duration. The 
avenger was at hand. In something less than a year after this 
outrage, the U. S. Frigate, Potomac, Com. Downes, appeared 
off the port of Qualah Battoo, and anchored in the outer roads, 
disguised as a merchantman. Every boat which visited her 
from the shore was detained that her character might not be 
made known to the natives. Several amusing anecdotes were 
told, of the fear and terror exhibited in the countenances of the 
natives, when they so unexpectedly found themselves imprisoned 
within the wooden walls of the Potomac, surrounded by such a 
formidable armament, which bespoke the errand that had 
attracted her to their shores. They prostrated themselves at 
full length upon her decks, trembling in the most violent manner, 
and appearing to think nothing but certain death awaited them. 

"A reconnoitering party was first sent on shore, professedly 
for the purpose of trafiic. But when they approached, the 
natives came down to the beach in such numbers that it excited 
their suspicions that the frigate's character and errand had some- 
how preceded her, and it was considered prudent not to land. 
Having, therefore, examined the situation of the forts and the 
means of defence, they returned to the Potomac. The same 
night some 300 men, under the guidance of Mr. Barry, the 
former second officer of the Friendship, who was assistant sail- 
ing-master of the frigate, landed to the westward of the place 

402 



The Tragedy of the Friendship 



with the intention of surprising the forts and the town, but by 
some unaccountable delay the morning was just breaking when 
the detachment had effected a landing, and as they were march- 
ing along the beach towards the nearest fort, a Malay came out 
of it, by whom they were discovered and an alarm given. 

" They pushed on, however, and captured the forts by storm 
after some hard fighting, and set fire to the town which was 
burnt to ashes. The natives, not even excepting the women, 
fought with great desperation, many of whom would not yield 
until shot down or sabred on the spot. The next day the frigate 
was dropped in within gunshot, and bombarded the place, to 
impress them with the power and ability of the United States 
to avenge any act of piracy or other indignity offered by them 
to her flag. 

" When I visited the coast again, some five months after this 
event, I found the deportment of the natives materially changed. 
There was now no longer exhibited either arrogance or proud 
defiance. All appeared impressed with the irresistible power 
of a nation that could send such tremendous engines of war as 
the Potomac frigate upon their shores to avenge any wrongs 
committed upon its vessels, and that it would be better policy 
for them to attend to their pepper plantations and cultivate 
the arts of peace, than subject themselves to such severe retri- 
bution as had followed this act of piracy upon the Friendship. 

"Perhaps, in justice to Po Adam, I ought to remark that the 
account circulated by his countrymen of his conniving at, if not 
being actually connected with this piracy (a falsehood with 
which they found the means of deceiving several American ship- 
masters soon after the affair), is a base calumny against a worthy 
man, and has no foundation whatever in truth. The property 
he had in my possession on board the ship, in gold ornaments 
of various kinds, besides money, amounting to several thousand 
dollars, all of which he lost by the capture of the ship and 

403 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

never recovered, bears ample testimony to the falsity of this 
charge. His countrymen also worked upon the avarice and 
cupidity of the king by misrepresentations of his exertions to 
recover the ship, thereby preventing them from making him a 
present of her which they pretended was their intention. His 
sable majesty, in consequence, absolved every one of Po Adam's 
debtors, all along the coast, from paying him their debts. He 
also confiscated all his property he could find, such as fishing- 
boats, nets and lines and other fishing tackle, and appropriated 
the proceeds to his own use, so that Po Adam was at once reduced 
to penury. All this was in accordance with commodore Bieu- 
lieu's account, upwards of two hundred years before, viz: 'If 
they ever suspect that any one bears them an ill will, they 
endeavor to ruin him by false accusations.' 

"The king also sent a small schooner down the coast, soon 
after, to reap further vengeance upon Po Adam. Arriving at 
Pulo Kio, while Adam was absent, they rifled his fort of every- 
thing valuable and even took the ornaments, such as armlets 
and anklets, off the person of his wife. Intelligence having been 
conveyed to Po Adam of this outrage, he arrived home the 
night before the schooner had left the harbor, and incensed, as 
it was natural he should be, at such base and cowardly treat- 
ment, he immediately opened a fire upon her and sunk her in 
nine feet of water. She was afterwards fished up by the Potomac 
frigate and converted into fire- wood. 

" We do not know if Po Adam is now living, but some sixteen 
years since, we saw a letter from him to one of our eminent 
merchants, Joseph Peabody, Esq., of Salem, Mass., asking for 
assistance from our citizens and stating truthfully all the facts 
in his case. I endeavored at the time, through our represen- 
tative to Congress, to bring the matter before that body but 
from some cause it did not succeed, and the poor fellow has 
been allowed to live, if not die, in his penury. We will, however, 

404 



Tlie Tragedy of the Friendship 



permit him to state his own case, in his own language, which he 
does in the following letter, written at his own dictation : 

'"Qualah Battoo, 7th October, 1841, Some years have 
passed since the capture of the Friendship, commanded by my 
old friend, Capt. Endicott. 

" ' It perhaps is not known to you, that, by saving the life of 
Capt. Endicott, and the ship itself from destruction, I became, 
in consequence, a victim to the hatred and vengeance of my 
misguided countrjTiien; some time since, the last of my property 
was set on fire and destroyed, and now, for having been the 
steadfast friend of Americans, I am not only destitute, but an 
object of derision to my countrymen. 

" ' You, who are so wealthy and so prosperous, I have thought, 
that, if acquainted with these distressing circumstances, you 
would not turn a deaf ear to my present condition. 

" ' I address myself to you, because through my agency many 
of your ships have obtained cargoes, but I respectfully beg that 
you will have the kindness to state my case to the rich pepper 
merchants of Salem and Boston, firmly believing that from their 
generosity, and your own, I shall not have reason to regret the 
warm and sincere friendship ever displayed towards your Cap- 
tains, and all other Americans, trading on this Coast. . . . 

"'Wishing you, Sir, and your old companions in the Sumatra 
trade, and their Captains, health and prosperity, and trusting 
that, before many moons I shall, through your assistance, be 
released from my present wretched condition, believe me very 
respectfully, 

"'Your faithful servant, 

" (Signed) 'Po Adam' (in Arabic characters)." 



405 



CHAPTER XX 

EARLY SOUTH SEA VOYAGES 
(1832) 

FIFTY years ago two English missionaries in the Fijis 
wrote a book in which they said that the traffic in 
sandalwood, tortoise-shell and beche-de-mer among 
those islands "has been, and still is chiefly in the hands of 
Americans from the port of Salem." No corner of the Seven 
Seas seems to have been too hostile or remote to be overlooked 
by the shipmasters of old Salem in their quest for trade. The 
first vessels of the East India Company to touch at the Fijis 
made a beginning of that commerce a little more than a hundred 
years ago. No more than four years after their pioneer voyage, 
however, Captain William Richardson in the Salem bark 
Active was trading with the natives and continuing his voyage 
to Canton in 1811. During the next half century the untutored 
people of the Fijis pictured the map of America as consisting 
mostly of a place called Salem whose ships and sailors were 
seldom absent from their palm-fringed beaches. 

When Commodore Wilkes sailed on his exploring expedition 
of the South Seas in 1840, his pilot and interpreter was Captain 
Benjamin Vandeford of Salem. He died on the way home 
from this famous cruise and Commodore Wilkes wrote of him : 
"He had formerly been in command of various vessels sailing 
from Salem, and had made many voyages to the Fiji Islands. 
During our stay there he was particularly useful in superintend- 
ing all trade carried on to supply the ship." It was another 
Salem skipper of renown, Captain John H. Eagleston, who 

406 



Early South Sea Voyages 



carried one of Commodore Wilkes' vessels safely into port in 
1840 among the Fijis by reason of his intimate knowledge of 
those waters. 

South Sea trading in that era was a romance of commerce, 
crowded with perilous adventure. The brig Charles Doggett of 
Salem, commanded by Captain George Batchelder was lying 
off Kandora in the Fijis in 1833, when her crew was attacked 
by natives. Five of the seamen and the mate were killed and 
most of the others wounded. On her way to Manila in the 
same voyage the brig touched at the Pelew Islands and was 
again attacked, in which affray a cabin boy was killed. The 
Charles Doggett had previously played a part in one of the 
most romantic chapters of ocean history, the mutiny of the 
Bounty. In 1831, Captain William Driver took the brig to 
Tahiti whither, a short time before, the Bounty colony had been 
transported by the British Government from its first home on 
Pitcairn Island. There were eighty-seven of these descendants 
of the original mutineers, and they had been taken to Tahiti 
at their own request to seek a more fertile and habitable island. 
They were an Utopian colony, virtuous, and intensely pious, 
and soon disgusted with the voluptuous immoralities of the 
Tahitians, they became homesick for the isolated peace of 
Pitcairn Island, and begged to be carried back. When Captain 
Driver found them they besought him to take them away from 
Tahiti, and he embarked them for Pitcairn Island, fourteen 
hundred miles away. They had been gone only nine months 
and they rejoiced with touching eagerness and affection at 
seeing their old home again. Captain Driver went on his way 
in the Charles Doggett, with the satisfaction of having done a 
kindly deed for one of the most singularly attractive and pic- 
turesque communities known in modern history. * 

*The following letter was sent to Capt. Driver and signed by George 
H. Nobbs, Teacher, and three of his fellow- voyagers of the company of the 
Bounty: 

407 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Another kind of sea-story was woven in the loss of the Salem 
ship Glide which was wrecked at Tackanova in 1832, after her 
company had been set upon by natives with the loss of two 
seamen. The South Sea Islands were very primitive in those 
days, and the narrative of the Glide as told by one of her crew 
portrays customs, conditions and adventures which have long 
since vanished. The Glide was owned by the famous Salem 
shipping merchant Joseph Peabody, and commanded by Cap- 
tain Henry Archer. She sailed for the South Pacific in 1829, 
with a crew of young men hailing from her home port. While 
at New Zealand a journal kept on board records that "the 
presence of several English whale ships helped to relieve the 
most timid of us from any feeling of insecurity because of the 
treachery of the natives. Among the visitors on board was a 
chief supposed to have been concerned in the massacre of the 
ship Boyd's crew in the Bay of Islands. Some of the particulars 
of this tragedy were related to us by foreigners resident at New 
Zealand. The chief was a man of very powerful frame, and of 
an exceedingly repulsive appearance. The cook said : ' There, 
that fellow looks as though he could devour any of us without 
salt.'" 

A little later in the voyage the Glide hit a reef and her captain 
decided that she must be hove down and repaired. How small 
these old-time vessels were is shown in this process of heaving 
them down, or careening on some sandy beach when their 
hulls needed cleaning or repairs. In the Peabody Museum 



" Pitcairns Island, 

Sept. 3rd., 1830. 
This is to certify that Captain Driver of the Brig Chas. Doggett of Salem 
carried sixty-five of the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island from Tahiti back to their 
native land during which passage Capt. Driver behaved with the greatest kind- 
ness and humanity becoming a man and a Christian, and as we can never re- 
munerate him for the kindness we have received, we sincerely hope that through 
the blessing of the Almighty he will reap that reward which infallibly attends 
the Christian." 

408 




Captain Driver 






^^ '.-■ / J3A/.^ 



r/^- 



it j/tfji *^ *r «>i^»>^ ae^/^ <-x. / 






:?* 




vX<t<Sfe 



'■^ifr^g^^.^ 







j^«^ ^^on jf-^u^— ^ ^ 



.f * 



/2/^»"^^ — '<^$^ 




Letter to Captain Driver from the "Bounty" Colonists after he had carried tlieni 
from Tahiti l)aek to I'iteairn Island. (See foot note ()n page j.'iS.) 



I 



Early South Sea Voyages 



of Salem there is a painting done by one of the crew, of the Salem 
brig Eunice which was hauled ashore on a South Sea island. 
After stripping, emptying her and caulking her seams, the crew 
discovered that it was a task beyond their strength to launch her 
again. What did they do but assemble all the spare timber, 
cut down trees and hew planks, and after incredible exertion 
build a huge cask around the brig's dismantled hull. It was 
more of a cylinder than a cask, however, from which the bow 
and stern of the craft extended. Lines were passed to her boats 
and the windlass called into action as she lay at anchor close to 
the beach. 

Then with hawsers rigged around the great cask, every 
possible purchase was obtained, and slowly the brig began to 
roll over and over toward the sea, exactly as a barrel is rolled 
down the skids into a warehouse. In this unique and amazing 
fashion the stout Eunice was trundled into deep water. As 
soon as she was afloat, the planking which encased her was 
stripped off and she was found to be uninjured. Then her 
masts were stepped and rigged, her ballast, stores and cargo 
put aboard, and she sailed away for Salem. The painting of 
this ingenious incident tells the story more convincingly than 
the description. 

The account of the heaving down of the Glide is not so unusual 
as this but it throws an interesting light upon the problems of 
these resourceful mariners of other days. "To heave down 
the ship was an undertaking requiring great caution and abil- 
ity," the journal relates. "A large ship to be entirely dis- 
mantled; a large part of her cargo to be conveyed ashore; a 
floating stage of spars and loose timbers constructed alongside; 
ourselves surrounded by cannibals, scores of which were con- 
tinually about the vessel and looking as if they meditated mis- 
chief. It was well for the Glide that her captain not only knew 
the ropes but had been a ship carpenter and could use an axe. 

409 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

He had not, like many masters of vessels nowadays, climbed 
up to the captain's berth through the cabin window. He was 
fully equal to this emergency." 

The ship, having been hove down without mishap, was 
made ready for opening a trade in beche-de-mer, a species of 
sea slug, which was dried and carried to China as a dehcacy in 
high repute among the people of that country. A safe anchorage 
was found, and the king of the nearest tribe "made pliable" 
by numerous gifts after which a contract was made with him 
for gathering the cargo. He assembled his people and set 
them at work erecting on the beach the row of buildings needed 
for storing and curing the sea slugs. 

When this was done the warriors of nearby friendly tribes 
began to appear in canoes, bringing their wives and children. 
They built huts along the beach until an uproarious village 
had sprung up. Its people bartered tortoise shell, hogs and 
vegetables for iron tools, and whales' teeth, and helped gathei 
beche-de-mer in the shallow water along the reefs. Two of 
the ship's officers and perhaps a dozen of the crew lived ashore 
for the purpose of curing the cargo. Their plant was rather 
imposing, consisting of a " Batter House," a hundred feet long 
by thirty wide in which the fish was spread and smoked; the 
" Trade House " in which were stored muskets, pistols, cutlasses, 
cloth, iron-ware, beads, etc., and the "Pot House" which con- 
tained the great kettles used for boiling the unsavory mess. In 
putting up these buildings the king would make a hundred of 
his islanders toil a week on end for a musket — and he kept the 
musket. 

" The business aboard, the din of industry ashore, the coming 
and going of boats and the plying of hundreds of canoes to and 
from the sea reef, gave much animation to things," writes the 
chronicler of this voyage of the Glide. 

" Indeed I could not but regard the scene, among islands so 

410 



Early South Sea Voyages 



little known to the world, as highly creditable to the commercial 
enterprise of the merchants engaged in the trade. Where next, 
thought I, will Salem vessels sail? North or south, around 
Good Hope or the Horn, we find them, officered and manned 
by Salem men. The Glide's company were thirty men, most of 
whom were young, strong and active, a force sufficient with our 
muskets, pistols, cutlasses, etc., to resist any attack from the 
natives. Though without a profusion of ornamental work, the 
Glide was a beautiful model, as strong as oak and ship carpenters 
could make her. At anchor in the harbor of Miambooa, she 
had a war-like appearance. Heavy cannon loaded with a 
cannister and grape shot projected from the port holes on each 
side. In each top was a chest of arms and ammunition. On 
deck and below, weapons of defense were so arranged as to be 
available at short notice. Boarding nettings eight or ten feet 
high were triced up around the ship by tackles, and whipping 
lines suspended from the ends of the lower yard-arms." 

Before the journal deals with the tragedy and loss of the 
Glide, the author jots down such bits of information as this: 

"One of the most powerful chiefs on this island (Overlau) 
at the time of our visiting it, was Mr. David Whepley, an 
American, and, I believe, a native of New Bedford, whence 
he had sailed some years before in a whale ship. For some 
cause, on the arrival of the vessel here, he took sudden leave 
and ultimately became distinguished among the natives. He 
was a young man apparently about thirty years of age." 

The career of a trader in the South Seas three-quarters of a 
century ago was enlivened by incidents like the following : 

"When passing within a few miles of Pennrhyn's Island, we 
noticed some canoes filled with savages coming off to the ship. 
Wishing to procure some grass for our live-stock, we hove to 
and awaited their approach. Their numbers and strength 
made it prudent to put ourselves in a defensive position; each 

411 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

man was armed and our cannon, loaded with grape-shot, were 
run out at the port holes. 

"Presently there were alongside fifty or sixty of the most 
repulsive monsters that I ever beheld; very tall, of complexion 
unmixed black, with coarse stiff hair like dog's bristles, and 
their language, if such it was, more resembling dogs barking 
than articulate speech. Their whole aspect was truly terrific. 
They were not permitted to come on board, but only to clamber 
up the sides of the vessel. The ship's channels fore and aft 
on both sides were filled with them. The Glide's company 
was armed, yet our situation was very perilous. 

" Whilst Captain Ai'cher was selecting some articles of trade, 
a spear was hurled at him by a savage standing in the larboard 
mizzen channels. I stood within four or five feet of the captain, 
and saw the savage, but his movement was so quick that I could 
not in season give the alarm. The captain was leaning over 
the larboard hencoop, his back was toward the savage, and but 
for a providential turning of his head, the spear would have 
pierced his neck. As it was, it grazed his neck and inflicted a 
slight wound. 

"This seemed to be a signal for attack; the savages became 
exceedingly clamorous. The captain commanded 'Fire.' It 
was a fearful order and fearfully obeyed. Five or six savages, 
among them the one who had hurled the spear, were shot and 
fell back with a death shriek into the sea. Others were severely 
wounded by our boarding pikes, and cutlasses. Two or three 
of the crew were slightly injured in keeping the natives from 
the deck. Had the captain's orders been a moment delayed, 
the savages must have gained the better of us. As soon as the 
captain's order had been given I let go the weather main-brace. 
A six knot breeze was blowing and the yards having been quickly 
rounded, the motion was soon sufficient to embarrass the 
savages, and we were enabled to drive them from the ship. 

412 



Early South Sea Voyages 



"As the Glide moved on, we left them astern in the utmost 
confusion. Their situation was truly pitiable. The sun had 
set; there was a heavy sea, and the wind was freshening. They 
were five miles from their island. Some were swimming about 
hither and thither to recover their canoes which had been upset 
by the ship's progress; some went soon to the bottom, and 
others who had gained their canoes sat hideously bemoaning 
the desolation around them. Their eyes rolled wildly as they 
hurled their spears toward the ship, and they howled and 
gnashed their teeth like so many fiends of darkness. We 
passed within a mile of the island, and observed numerous fires 
kindled along the shore, probably as beacons to guide back 
the natives who had attacked us." 

Captain Archer's ship filled her hold with beche-de-mer and 
took it to Manila, returning to the Fijis for a second cargo. Ar- 
riving once more at the island of Overlau, the first and third ofii- 
cers with part of the crew were sent in a boat to Lakamba, an 
island twenty-five miles distant to conduct the traffic in beche- 
de-mer. Because of shoal water the ship could not follow them 
and she carried on a trade at her anchorage in tortoise shell and 
sandal wood. " Knowing that on the completion of our second 
cargo," reads the journal, "we were to leave the Fijis the party 
at Lakamba worked with zeal. The men aboard ship were 
no less industrious. The armorer and his mate manufactured 
knives, chisels, and other cutlery for exchange. The carpenter 
was busy at his bench. Above some were repairing the rigging; 
on deck others were mending sails, and making matting bags 
to pack beche-de-mer. The sun shone not on a more faithful 
crew. The captain traded with the natives when they came 
alongside, and directed all matters aboard. Thus prosperously 
passed several weeks. 

" We were frequently visited by David Whepley, the x\merican 
chieftain at Overlau; sometimes accompanied by two or three 

413 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

of his warriors. He was usually dressed as a sailor and had 
with him a loaded rifle whose good qualities were the main 
topic of his conversation. He also told us much concerning his 
singular life, and his adopted people, over whom he seemed to 
have great influence owing to his superior wisdom, and the good 
terms existing between him and the powerful king of Bou. The 
king of Bou sometimes visited us. When this old chief, whose 
complexion was darkness visible out of which peered two deep- 
set glaring eyeballs with a grizzly beard tapering to a point a 
foot below his chin, came alongside in his large double canoe, 
the spectacle was impressive. This canoe was of curious and 
imposing structure, able to hold a hundred or more persons, 
with a triangular matting sail as large as the Glide's main- 
topsail. He was accompanied by forty or fifty vigorous black 
warriors, huge but symmetrical in build, with elegant white 
turbans on their heads, and ornaments hanging from their ears. 
They were girt with some white tapas, and held massive clubs 
and spears which they use with terrible effect. 

" One morning about forty of the savages of Overlau brought 
some fruit off the ship, ostensibly for trade. Only two or three 
of them were allowed to come on board at a time. Nine or ten 
of the crew were variously occupied in different parts of the 
ship. The armorer and myself were at work together on the 
forecastle. In a short time our suspicions were excited by 
seeing our visitors engaged in close conversation among them- 
selves, and counting the men, ' Rua, Tolo, Va, Leema, Ono, 
Vetu,' etc. (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, etc.). The 
armorer was going aft to inform the captain of the circumstances 
when our second oflficer, on looking over the ship's side, saw 
some savages busily passing up weapons to others standing in 
the channels. The men aloft, having also perceived this 
manoevre, hurried down on deck and discharged a volley of 
musketry over the heads of the visitors which dispersed them. 

414 



Early South Sea Voyages 



Some leaped into the sea, others into their canoes, and swam 
or paddled ashore in great consternation." 

But the company of the Glide were not to escape scot-free 
from the hostility of the Fijians. A few days after the foregoing 
incident, the second officer, carpenter, and six of the foremast 
hands were sent ashore to cut an anchor-stalk of timber. As 
usual, the boat was well supplied with arms and ammunition. 
A boy of the party was left in charge of the boat on the beach, 
and the others went into the nearest woods. Presently a score 
of natives appeared and tried to trade, but the sailors were too 
busy to deal with them, whereupon they sauntered off to the 
beach and began to annoy the lad who had been left behind. 
Before long they were stealing articles from the boat and the 
young sentinel raised an alarm. 

" The men hearing the cry w^ere making for the boat," relates 
the diarist of the Glide, "when the savages in a body rushed 
towards them. Our sailors, levelling their loaded muskets, 
retreated backward to the beach, avoiding with great difficulty 
the clubs and spears hurled at them. Thus all but two reached 
the boat. One of these as he came down to the water's edge, 
imprudently discharged his musket, and was instantly attacked 
and overpowered. He succeeded in throwing himself into the 
water, and after swimming a few strokes was seen to lift his 
head streaming with blood, and with his hand beckon feebly for 
the boat which, amidst the excitement, had been shoved off 
into deep water. He was followed by the savages, again 
attacked, dragged ashore and slain. The other unfortunate 
man rushed from the woods, hewing his way with the butt of 
his musket through the crowd of savages and fell dead on the 
beach. 

"Whilst the crew on board was busily engaged in washing 
decks, the fearful war-cry of the natives fell upon our ears. 
David Whepley, who was sitting with some members of his 

415 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

tribe upon the taffrail, cried out, 'There is trouble with your 
shipmates ashore.' Seeing the flash and hearing the report of 
the musket, I ran aft to give the alarm to Captain Archer who 
hastened on deck and after scanning the beach with the glass, 
ordered a boat away in which Whepley himself went. 

" Our feeling may be imagined as we went over the ship's 
side and watched in silence the first boat making towards us, 
having on board only six of the eight men who had left the 
ship. Who had been left behind we knew not, until on a 
nearer approach one of the crew exclaimed: 'I do not see 
Derby or Knight.' * 

" The lifeless bodies of the two men were found by the second 
boat's company lying on the beach stripped of their clothing 
and dreadfully mangled. They were wrapped in garments, 
brought on board and laid out upon the quarterdeck. About 
eleven o'clock of the same day they were committed to the 
care of David Whepley, who carried them to his end of the 
island and buried them. Although no funeral services were 
formally held, yet in the hearts of all that looked upon the 
dead, and walked the deck in sadness, were solemn thoughts of 
death and earnest hopes that this severe and unexpected stroke 
might influence for good our after lives." 

Not long after this tragedy the Glide sailed for the island of 
Miambooa, which was destined to be the scene of her loss. 
The story of the wreck and the experience of the survivors 
among a tribe of singularly friendly Fijis seems worthy a place 
in the history of Salem seafarers. 

"Every boat load of beche-de-mer that came off from the 
shore (at Miambooa)," runs the story, "was greeted with joy, 

* Joshua Derby and Enoch Knight, both of Salem. By a most extra- 
ordinary coincidence, this Enoch Kniglit's brother, who was first officer of the 
ship Friendship of Salem, Captain Endicott, was killed in the same month of 
the same year by the natives of Qualah Battoo on the coast of Sumatra when 
the vessel was captured by Malay savages. 

416 



Early South Sea Voyages 



for it added something to the cargo which was fast being com- 
pleted. Friendly relations existed between the natives and 
ourselves, so that the trade was undisturbed. The ship was in 
good order and we were almost ready to leave the islands. At 
evening the officers walked the quarterdeck with lighter step, 
and the crew, well and happy, assembled upon the forecastle 
which resounded with their mirth and songs. One of these 
songs was 'Home Sweet Home,' and under a clear starlit sky, 
enjoying after hard work the grateful ocean breeze, the inspiring 
chorus of this song burst forth from our hearts, and recalled to 
memory long past and distant scenes. Our shipmates ashore 
also caught our pealing chorus as it floated over the still water 
to their ears and they sent it back to the ship like an echo. 

"On March 31, (1831), the sky began to lower, and sudden 
gusts of wind blowing violently down the high land which 
eastward overhangs the town of Bonne Rarah, caused the 
ship to careen and gave token of a coming storm. The signal 
guns at their usual hour announced 'all's well,' but in the 
gloomy light the wind increased to hurricane force and after 
making a gallant fight of it the Glide dragged her anchors and 
was driven on a reef. The crew got ashore in daylight, but 
after being twenty-two months absent from port, was wrecked 
the Glide, one of the stateliest ships that ever sailed from Salem." 

"Among those who left the ship in the same party with me," 
wrote our survivor, "was a young man who communicated to 
me some interesting particulars of his life. His name was 
William Carey. He had sailed, some years before, from Nan- 
tucket in the whale-ship Oreno, which was wrecked near Turtle 
Island, one of the Fijis. The officers and crew escaped from 
the wreck, but Carey, noticing a disturbance between his ship- 
mates and the natives, concealed himself, fearing the issue. He 
remained in safe seclusion two or three days, not venturing to 
go out lest he should suffer what he supposed to be and what 

417 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

was, the fate of his companions, and he stealthily crept from 
his concealment in search of food. He was seen by a native, 
and, conscious of being discovered, he seated himself on a 
rock, and turning his back toward the savage, awaited the 
result in powerless despair. The native approached him, bade 
him rise and conducted him to the Boore.* The natives held 
an animated conference at which it was decided to spare his 
life, and he was taken by the chief into his family, and ever 
afterwards well provided for and kindly treated. 

"Several years after the loss of the Oreno, the Salem ship 
Clay, Captain Vanderford, of Salem, arrived at the same 
island. Carey's acquaintance with the language and customs 
of the natives enabled him to render important services in the 
way of trade. After the departure of the Clay from the islands 
Carey shipped on board the brig Quill, Captain Kinsman of 
Salem. With this vessel he remained until her cargo was com- 
pleted when he was induced to take a berth in the Glide. Thus 
was he twice wrecked at the Fijis, and twice subjected to a 
residence among the savages without meanwhile visiting home. 

"In the course of two or three days after the wreck of the 
Glide, the king permitted a part of the crew with several natives 
to go off to the ship to get the salt provisions and bread. Fifty 
or sixty savages were ransacking the wreck in every part, 
stripping the rigging from the spars, unhinging the cabin doors, 
hacking timber to extract nails and spikes, beating in barrels 
and hogsheads, dragging up our chests from the forecastle, 
jabbering all the while like monkeys yet working with the 
steady gravity of old caulkers. The sight was painful, yet their 
eagerness to outdo each other in securing booty was amusing. 

" In my chest was a small package of letters valuable to me 

alone, which I was now, in my misfortune, especially desirous 

to keep. As I went towards the chest to get them I was repulsed 

* The council-house and temple. 

418 



Early South Sea Voyages 



by a savage who raised his club over my head and bade me 
begone or he would slay me. ' Sah- lago, salt- senga, ne- lago, 
sah- moke.' I desisted from my purpose, and in a few minutes 
saw my chest with every token of home in it tumbled over the 
ship's side. 

"Our beche-de-mer about half filled the hold and by the 
bilging of the ship, had become a putrid mass. At the foot of 
the mainmast was a barrel of cast iron axes whose position the 
natives had somehow learned. Their desire for this tempting 
prize overcame their reluctance to use the only means of securing 
it, and down they dove into the loathsome mass at the risk of 
suffocation, often plunging in vain several times and crawling 
back on deck covered with slime. One native in diving came 
in contact with some mortar formed by a cask of lime that was 
broken by the motion of the ship. Grasping a handful he 
returned dripping with beche-de-mer and asked what the 
strange substance was. 'The white man's bread,' answered 
one of the crew. The native took a large mouthful which well 
nigh strangled him and spat it out with many wry faces and 
ludicrous motions amid the loud laughter of his friends. 

"Soon after the complete plundering of the ship, a council 
respecting us was held in the Boore by the king, priests and 
warriors. It was told me that on the arrival of the first boat's 
company at Bonne Rarah, the captain was thus questioned by 
the king. 'Should Fijians be cast ashore among your people, 
how would you treat them?' ' Kindly,' was the reply. ' Then,' 
rejoined the king, ' I will treat you kindly. Go with your men 
to the Boore, and I will protect you.' Nevertheless the con- 
sultation caused us many misgivings. The king urged that 
our services would be very valuable in showing them the use 
of muskets and in repairing them, in making bullets, etc. One 
chief thought that we should eat too much, and hence prudently 
suggested our being dispatched at once. The high priest arose 

419 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

to give his judgment, which was awaited with great interest. 
This man was very black, of monstrous size, and most unpleas- 
ant to look at. He recommended that they make hogs of us, 
alluding to the practice of killing these animals by blows on 
me head, cooking and eating them. This advice was consistent 
with the reputation of this priest. It was said that on the 
morning before the wreck of the ship, he stood outside his hut 
yelling and writhing. The natives declared that he shouted 
or bewitched the vessel ashore. 

"After much discussion the better counsel of the king pre- 
vailed. The decision was made known to us all by natives 
who ran and embraced us crying ' Sambooloa booloa -papalangi.' 
(The white men will not be hurt.) 

"Soon after the breaking up of the council the king as a 
reassurance of his favor, returned to us a few of our belongings. 
His method of distribution showed either his supreme contempt 
for maritime rank or a great error in valuation, for whilst to 
the crew generally he gave garments or other things very needful 
and acceptable, upon Captain Archer he bestowed with the 
utmost dignity and condescension a wornout chart and a useless 
fragment of an old flannel shirt. The interest of the king in 
our welfare constantly showed itself during our three months' 
residence at Bonne Rarah. Almost daily he looked in upon 
us to learn our wants, and kept in his house for our sole use 
quantities of tea, coffee and tobacco, which he distributed to 
us as need required. If we met him in our walks about the 
village the salutations ' sah-andra, touronga-lib,' (welcome king), 
'sah-andra papalangi,^ (welcome white man), were amicably 
exchanged. There was withal about him a dignity which well 
comported with his kingly character, and showed that any 
violations of loyalty on the part of the natives or of due respect 
on ours would not go unpunished. 

" On the 28th of March, Captain Archer, Carey and two or 

420 



Early South Sea Voyages 



three of our men sailed in our boat by the king's consent, to 
the island of Bou, the capital of the Fijis. This, our first 
separation, though on many accounts painful, was prudently 
planned, as a vessel was rumored to be in the vicinity of Bou. 
After exchanging farewells and cheers of mutual encouragement 
they started on their perilous adventure of sailing two hundred 
miles in a small boat, exposed to many dangers, and, not the 
least, attacks from savages. 

"The singular use made of our clothing by the natives was 
often ludicrous. Some wore our jackets buttoned down behind, 
others had on our trousers wrong side before; one little fellow 
strutted along in a ruffled shirt which had belonged to one of 
the officers, the ruffles flaring on his back. Amongst the booty 
from the ship were many casks of powder, of whose explosive 
nature the natives had little knowledge. In one dwelling 
which we visited were a large number of kegs of powder promis- 
cuously placed on the floor, in the centre of which a fire was 
kindled. The family was cooking their usual food, loose powder 
was scattered about, and the proprietor himself, dressed in a 
sailor's jacket and with a Scotch cap on his head, sat on a keg 
of powder before the fire, composedly smoking his pipe. We 
were somewhat amazed at the sight. Indeed it may be doubted 
whether Damocles himself (whose famous sword has become 
much blunted by its frequent use in illustration) had more 
cause to be ill at ease at his feast than we had while paying 
our native friend the civilities of the season. Our visit was not 
protracted and we took leave before the dinner in preparation 
was ready to be eaten. 

"Occasionally we invited the king to share our provisions 
with us. Whenever he was graciously pleased to accept the 
invitation he brought with him a chair, plate, knife and fork 
(which he had obtained from the ship), and after seating himself 
with becoming dignity, grasped the knife in his left hand at 

421 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

such an angle that as soon as one piece of food entered his 
mouth two fell back upon his plate. He also used his fork as 
a toothpick, thus confirming the notion that this practice com- 
ports better with the manners of savage than of civilized life. 

" An odd volume of Shakespeare saved from the wreck, moved 
us to get up a dramatic entertainment, the subject of which was 
the voyage of the Glide. The play began with the captain 
engaged in shipping a crew at a sailor's boarding house, and 
holding forth all those eloquent attractions usually set off by 
this class of men. Following this scene were various mishaps 
of the voyage. The king and a crowd of natives were seated 
before us on mats, and paid wondering attention, at a loss to 
understand most of our sayings and doings until in the course 
of the play, our arrival at the Fijis was pictured. The traffick- 
ing and haggling with the natives was mimicked by an officer, 
playing the part of a Fijian, and a common sailor as the trading 
master. Our drift was more clearly comprehended now, and 
the progress of the action more eagerly watched. And when 
the efforts of the natives to cheat us were baffled, the sense of 
the whole matter flashed upon the audience, and the Boore 
resounded with an uproar of savage delight. Through the 
remainder of the play, involving the wreck and our hospitable 
reception by the king, to whom and his people many compli- 
ments were paid by the actors, we were followed with intense 
interest, and at the close by expressions of royal satisfaction." 

The life of these islanders, as enjoyed by the crew of the 
Glide was a kind of tropical idyl, and the white trader had 
not yet blighted them with rum and disease. Our sailor nar- 
rator wrote of this Eden into which he was cast by a kindly 
fate: " One day, I was invited by a chief, whom I had frequently 
visited, to accompany him on an excursion to the interior of 
the island. We passed through a defile of the mountains, and 
then struck into a well-beaten path leading through a rather 

422 



Early South Sea Voyages 



uneven region. The beautiful diversity of prospect from the 
higher portions of our course, the mild air of the delightful 
day, birds of brilliant plumage singing in the trees about us, 
the ripe and grateful fruit easily procured, patches of sugar 
cane here and there pleasant to see and taste, agreeable con- 
versation, and the kind civilities of natives whom we met, made 
our walk the source of intense and various enjoyment. 

"At sunset, we reached our journey's end, a small village of 
about thirty rudely constructed huts, and were heartily wel- 
comed by the chief of the tribe, who conducted us to his house, 
and soon set before us a repast of baked pig, fruit and vege- 
tables. In the evening, about twenty natives, invited by our 
host, assembled, among whom were several that I had seen on 
board the ship, and who recognized me with apparent delight. 
A general conversation was held, relating, beside many other 
topics, to the lost ship, the white men and their country, through- 
out which it was gratifying to observe mutual kindness and 
courtesy prevailed. The social party was highly interesting, 
occasionally enlivened with good-humored mirth. 

"In the morning we visited the Boore, which was similarly 
constructed, though in every respect inferior, to that at Bonne 
Rarah. In the centre of the apartment, where we held the 
religious ceremonies, w^hich were about to commence when we 
reached the building, was a very large bowl of angona or avaroot, 
of which, after being properly prepared, all the natives assembled 
repeatedly partook, the intervals between the potations being 
occupied by the priest pronouncing certain forms of speech, to 
which the audience who were seated around the apartment, 
now and then responded. Near the door were arranged in 
open sight, several small, round blocks of wood, singularly 
ornamented with sennit and carved work, to which the natives, 
as they came in and retired, made low obeisance. As usual, 
no females were present. After the conclusion of the service, 

423 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

which held an hour, we rambled about the village, being kindly 
welcomed wherever we called; and, at length, returned to the 
house of the hospitable chief, whence, having partaken of 
another ample feast, and thanked our host for his kind attention, 
we departed for Bonne Rarah. My excursion surprised both 
me and my shipmates, to whom I gave an account of it, for 
we had previously heard much said of the ferocity of the inland 
savages. 

" In the latter part of April, a festival which we were kindly 
invited to attend, was held at a village about forty miles from 
Bonne Rarah. As the place, though on the island of Tacanova, 
was easiest of access by sailing, my shipmates, it was determined, 
should accompany the king in his double canoe; and I went 
with the chief with whom I had made the inland excursion, in his 
single canoe. My patron I found to be very loquacious, for^ 
instead of our holding a pleasant conversation together, he took 
upon himself to give me a lecture of what was to be expected 
at the coming festival, diversifying his discourse with ^ solib,' 
grand feast; 'leebo, leebo,' great, great; 'benacka, benacka,' 
good, good; ' mungety-leelo,' plenty of provisions; 'pookah,' 
pigs; ' ouvie,' yams; ' aooto,' bread-fruit; 'boondy,' plantains, 
all which expressions, of course, deeply impressed my imagina- 
tion. Now and then he asked, whether I comprehended what 
he said. Whatever was my response, he was none the less 
talkative, for when he questioned me, ' sah gala guego,' do you 
understand? if I answered ' sah- senga,' no, he labored long 
and hard to make his meaning clear to my mind; and, if my 
reply was ' sah gala qu ow,'' 'I do understand,' he took courage 
from the honest confession, and at once proceeded to give me 
more information. 

"Soon after sunset, having landed at a small island midway 
between Bonne Rarah and the place to which we were bound, 
we were well received by the natives, who conducted us to 

424 



Early South Sea Voyages 



their Boore, near the top of a high hill, and presently furnished 
us with a generous repast. Here, in less than an hour, the 
report of our arrival drew together many savages, from whose 
evident astonishment, as they gazed upon me, I conjectured 
that most of them had never seen a white man. Though we 
were kindly invited to spend the night here, yet the curiosity 
of the natives made them reluctant to retire from the Boore, and 
leave us to sleep. Our singular situation, exposure to attacks 
from savages, over whom kindness and ferocity hold rule by 
turns, and a consciousness of our almost complete helplessness 
in such a case, occasioned in me unquiet feelings, which, in 
truth, were not allayed by my dear friend, the cannibal-chief, 
who frequently started up from his mat in great excitement, 
and paced rapidly to and fro, with his war-club at his side. 
The chief, at length, explained his singular conduct by telling 
me that the savages designed to detain me on their island, and 
that he had been anxiously devising some way to defeat their 
purpose. At his suggestion, early in the morning, before the 
natives were stirring, we silently left the Boore. I placed 
myself on the chief's broad shoulders, and held in one hand his 
war-club, and in the other his canoe-paddle. Thus we stole 
softly down the steep hill, and when we came to the beach, to 
our amazement, our canoe was no where to be seen. The chief 
in the height of his vexation, brandished his club towards the 
Boore, and poured forth a torrent of imprecation. Fearful 
that his wild anger would soon arouse the natives, I looked 
about for the canoe, and after careful search, found it secreted 
in a thicket near the shore. We dragged it with diflficulty to 
the water, hoisted our three-cornered sail, and unmolested sailed 
away from the island. 

"The sun had just risen, when we reached the landing- 
place, about a mile from the spot chosen for the festival. We 
were among the first comers. On the glittering waves at some 

425 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

distance, we saw hundreds of canoes, some boldly advancing 
on the open sea, others more wary keeping nearer the shore, 
and others now and then emerging into sight from behind 
points of land and small islands, all bound, with their shouting 
crews, for the general feast. They soon drew nearer and com- 
panies of natives from neighboring islands and remote villages 
of Tacanova, landed, in quick succession, at the beach, and 
made the hills echo with their loud rejoicing. 

" The plain selected for the feast was of many acres, covered 
with liveliest verdure, surrounded by groves in which were 
many fruit trees, and through it coursed brooks of pure water 
from adjacent highlands. In its centre was a pyramid, appar- 
ently eight feet square at the base, and tapering fifteen feet to a 
point of yams; and near it was a smaller one, of angona root. 
Hanging from gnarled branches of ironwood trees, in another 
part of the field, were large quantities of plantains, cocoanuts 
and bread-fruit. At one end were several pens, filled with 
swine, of which there were at least a hundred, while the men, 
profusely annointed with cocoanut oil, decorated with garlands 
of beads and flowers, having on their heads very large white 
turbans and around their waists elegant maros, were proudly 
strutting about the place, displaying their fashionable attire; 
and the women were meekly and laboriously cooking food. 

" After the completed preparation, the different tribes of the 
numerous assemblage arranged themselves on the grass in 
semicircles, about ten paces in front of which were seated their 
respective king, chiefs and priests, and between these dignitaries 
and the people were placed their appointed provisions. The 
tribes all first drank angona, and then, four or five natives, who 
attended each tribe as waiters, began dividing the food, and 
another taking on a plantain leaf a parcel of it, advanced to the 
master of the feast for the division, and asked 'quotha,' (for 
whom), when the name of some one being spoken aloud, the 

426 



Early South Sea Voyages 



person thus designated clapped his hands to make known his 
position, and, being at once supphed with his portion, began 
eating it with strips of bamboo sharpened on one edge and 
pointed. This ceremony was repeated until all received their 
shares, reference being made to rank in the order of distribution. 

"In the afternoon two or three hundred young females, 
wearing girdles of variegated grass and leaves, and necklaces 
of colored beads and flowers, danced with liveliest and modest 
mien across the plain, loudly singing and waving beautiful fans 
over their heads with easy uniformity and grace; and then 
adroitly wheeling about, retraced their way, with fans flourishing 
in the air, echoing song and sprightly dance. 

" Next came forward a party of men, with hair frizzled in the 
highest style of Fijian art, tapering beards, long tapas of snowy 
native cloth, contrasting with their own swarthy color and 
trailing on the grass, their arms and faces shining with cocoanut 
oil, carrying their stout and polished war-clubs; and, having 
arranged themselves in two divisions, a pace apart, in open 
distance, they raised with united voices a piercing war song, 
in time with which all made the same impressive gestures. 
Now they bent back their bodies, elevating their war-clubs in 
the air, in seeming preparation for attack; then, with faces of 
determined courage, lifting higher their shrill, fierce chorus, all 
leaped as one man onward, as if about to meet a furious foe; 
and, at last, as if they had achieved a noble victory changing 
to triumphal notes their yell of onset, with fiend-like grimaces 
they danced wildly about in a thousand intricate and changeful 
steps. 

"Our company, being requested by several chiefs, on the 
second day of the festival, to amuse in our turn the assembled 
crowds, concluded to perform a few military manoeuvres. We 
chose one of us captain, recalled what we knew of soldiers' 
tactics, and keeping time by a whistled tune, in lack of better 

427 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

accompaniment, advanced in open order, and charged bayonets ; 
marched with muskets shouldered in lock-step and solid column ; 
formed a hollow square, and, finally wheeled into line. All 
our movements were watched with eager eyes by the natives 
who expressed their pleasure by loud plaudits, to which, of 
course, like true soldiers, we gave slight heed, but with face 
unmoved, proceeded through the manual exercise. When 
the order came 'make ready — aim — ^fire,' one of our muskets 
happening to be loaded, discharged its contents over the heads 
of scores of seated savages, whose dismay now equalled their 
previous approbation. Their earnest inquiries were hardly 
evaded by assuring them that the piece was overcharged with 
powder. 

"Towards evening the festival was concluded and the com- 
pany began to disperse. Those who had sailed to the place, 
started to the shore where the canoes were secured and em- 
barked in their little fleets in various directions. Our party 
sailed in pleasant company with others bound for Bonne Rarah. 
When we came within a few miles of this town, a burning object 
was discovered on the water, which, on a nearer approach, we 
found to be our beautiful ship to which fire had been set by 
the savages who had remained behind for the sake of her iron 
work. This was a sad conclusion to the enjoyment experienced 
at the festival. The satisfaction that we had felt in looking 
out from our lonely abode upon the hull of the Glide was now 
taken away, and we felt more than ever deprived of remem- 
brances of home. 

" A few weeks after the departure for Bou of Captain Archer, 
a large double canoe arrived at Bonne Rarah, from which we 
learned that the captain and his party were safe; that the brig 
Niagara, Capt. Brown, of Salem, had been wrecked on a reef 
midway between Overlau and Bou and that her crew were 
now staying at this latter island. Thus, the two only vessels 

428 



Early South Sea Voyages 



at the Fijis at this time were wrecked on the same day, and in 
the same storm; and, very remarkably, no member of either 
crew was afterwards slain by the natives. 

" A part of the crew, with our second officer and Mr. Carey, 
left us on the return of this canoe to Bou, thus reducing our 
number to sixteen men. The separation seemed like bidding a 
mutual farewell for life, narrowed the circle in which our 
spirits were chiefly sustained by common sympathies and hopes, 
and deepened that feeling of loneliness which previously parting 
with others had occasioned. To miss a single face which we 
were wont to see, was deeply felt. The officers and crew of the 
Glide, once held together by duties on shipboard, and, after- 
wards by the still stronger community of suffering, were dis- 
persing in various directions whilst the lot of those who went 
away, and of those who staid behind was enshrouded by the 
same cloud of dark uncertainty. Some were about to suffer 
many more trials before reaching home; and of the return of 
others to their native land there has yet been no account." 

Strangely enough the journal of the wreck of the Glide ends 
in this abrupt fashion as if it were "to be continued in our 
next." Curious to learn in what manner the crew was rescued 
from its long exile in the Fijis a search was begun among the 
log-books of other Salem ships trading with those islands in the 
thirties. It was like hunting a needle in a haystack, but the 
mystery was uncovered by the log of the bark Peru of Salem, 
Captain John H. Eagleston. Under date of June 7th, 1831, 
he wrote while among the Fiji Islands: 

"Visited by a double canoe with about 50 natives, and a 
boat from a town called Lebouka. Got 9 turtle out of the ca- 
noe, 3 for a musket. Was informed by the chiefs in the canoe 
of Captain Archer of ship Glide being cast away at Muddy- 
vater and Captain Brown in the Niagara at Bou, and that they 
had lost everything belonging to them. Which I had every 

429 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

reason to believe as the canoe had several trunks and chests in 
it. Got up the boarding netting. At 3 A. M. sent the vi^hale 
boat up to Bou, with the interpreter and 5 Lebouka men with 
a large present to the king and a letter to Captain Brown which 
was from his wife. People employed in putting arms in order. 
" June 8 — at 9 A. M. our boat returned from Bou with 2 
boats in company which belonged to the Brig. Took on board 
Captain Brown, Captain Vandeford, officers and crew of the 
Brig (Niagara) and 2 officers and 2 men belonging to the Glide. 
Most of them belonging to Salem and in all 15. Many of them 
without shirts to their backs or shoes to their feet and some 
with a small part of a pair of trousers. On learning that Cap- 
tain Archer had left Bou a few days before for Goro, he being in 
distress and suffering, I thought it my duty to send word to 
him that I was here. 

"June 10th. Archer with 2 of his men came from Bou." 
The whereabouts of the other men of the Glide being dis- 
covered in this way, they were later picked up and brought 
home, and their story ended happily, as it should, for they 
deserved fairer prospects after the ill-fortune which laid them 
by the heels in the Fijis as those islands were in those far away 
years when the white man had first found them out. 



430 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE LAST PIRATES OF THE SPANISH MAIN 

(1832) 

IN December of 1906 died Captain Thomas Fuller, the oldest 
shipmaster of Salem, in his ninety-fourth year. He was 
the survivor of an era on the sea that seems to belong 
with ancient history. Before 1830 he was a cabin boy in a 
brig of less than a hundred tons in the Cuban trade. At 
eighteen he was sailing to South America and Europe, and his 
shipmates, then in the prime of life, were veterans of the fighting 
privateers of the War of 1812. He lived well into the twentieth 
century to tell the tale of the last piracy of the Spanish Main, 
for he was one of the crew of the brig Mexican. Captured by a 
swarthy band of cut-throats in their "rakish, black schooner," 
while on a voyage to Rio Janeiro, the Mexican carried the 
period of organized piracy down to the year 1832. Six of the 
pirates were hanged in Boston three years later, and their 
punishment finished for good and all, a peril to American 
shipping which had preyed along the coast for two full centuries. 
The Mexican sailed from Salem on the 29th of August, 1832, 
commanded by Captain John G. Butman and owned by Joseph 
Peabody. She was a brig of two hundred and twenty-seven 
tons register, with a crew of thirteen men, including able seaman 
Thomas Fuller, nineteen years old. There was also on board 
as a seaman, John Battis of Salem, who before his death many 
years after, wrote down his memories of the voyage at the 
request of his son. His story is the most complete account of 

431 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

the famous piracy that has come down to us, and in part it 
runs as follows: 

"I was at Peabody's store house on the morning of the day 
of sailing and others of the crew came soon after. After waiting 
, quite a while, it was suggested that we go after the cook, Ridgely, 
who then boarded with a Mrs. Ranson, a colored woman living 
on Becket street, so we set out to find him. He was at home 
but disinclined to go, as he wished to pass one more Sunday 
home. However, after some persuading he got ready, and we 
all started out of the gate together. A black hen was in the 
yard and as we came out the bird flew upon the fence, and 
flapping her wings, gave a loud crow. The cook was wild 
with terror, and insisted that something was going to happen; 
that such a sign meant harm, and he ran about in search of a 
stone to knock out the brains of the offending biped. The 
poor darkey did not succeed in his murderous design, but 
followed us grumbling. 

"At about ten o'clock we mustered all present and accounted 
for, and commenced to carry the specie, with which we were 
to purchase our return cargo, on board the brig. We carried 
aboard twenty thousand dollars in silver, in ten boxes of two 
thousand dollars each; we also had about one hundred bags of 
saltpetre and one hundred chests of tea. The silver was stored 
in the 'run' under the cabin floor, and there was not a man 
aboard but knew where the money was stored. 

"At last everything being ready we hove anchor and stood 
out to sea in the face of a southeast wind. As soon as we got 
outside and stowed anchor we cleared ship and the captain 
called all hands and divided the crew into watches. I was in 
the first mate's watch and young Thomas Fuller was in the 
captain's watch. On account of the several acts of piracy 
previously committed on Salem ships, Captain Butman un- 
doubtedly feared, or perhaps had a premonition of a like hap- 

432 



I 




Captain Thomas Fuller, last survivor of the erew of the brig Mexican 
(Died Dec., 1906; 





The brifi; Me.ricai} attacked l»y pirates, 1S;5'2 



I 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

pening to his vessel, for the next day while he was aft at work 
on the main rigging, I heard the captain and first mate talking 
about pirates. The captain said he would fight a long while 
before he'd give his money up. They had a long talk together, 
and he seemed to be very much worried. I think it was the 
next day after this conversation between Captain Butman and 
Mr. Reed that I was at the wheel steering when the captain 
came and spoke to me. He asked me how I felt about leaving 
home, and I replied that I felt the same as ever, 'all right.' 
I learned afterwards that he put this question to the rest of the 
crew. 

" We sailed along without anything occurring worthy of note 
until the night of the nineteenth of September. After supper we 
were all sitting together during the dog-watch (this being between 
six and eight o'clock P. M.) when all seemed bent on telling 
pirate yarns, and of course got more or less excited. I went 
below at twelve o'clock and at four next morning my watch 
was called. Upon coming on deck the first mate came forward 
and said that we must keep a sharp look-out, as there was a 
vessel 'round, and that she had crossed our stern and gone to 
the leeward. I took a seat between the knight-heads, and had 
been sitting there but a few minutes when a vessel crossed our 
bows, and went to the windward of us. 

" We were going at a pretty good rate at the time. I sang out 
and the mate came forward with a glass, but said he could not 
make her out. I told him he would see her to the windward 
at daylight. At dawn we discovered a top-sail schooner about 
five miles off our weather quarter, standing on the wind on the 
same tack we were. The wind was light, at south southwest, 
and we were standing about southeast. At seven o'clock the 
captain came on deck and this was the first he knew of the 
schooner being about us. 

" I was at the wheel when the captain came out of the cabin ; 

433 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

he looked toward the schooner, and as soon as he perceived 
her, he reached and took his glass and went into the main-top. 
He came down and closing his glass, said : ' That is the very 
man I've been looking for. I can count thirty men on his deck.' 
He also said that he saw one man on her fore-top-gallant yard, 
looking out, and that he was very suspicious of her. He then 
ordered us to set all sail (as the schooner didn't seem to sail 
very fast), thinking we might get away from her. 

" While I was up loosing the main-royal I sat on the yard, and 
let them hoist me up to the truck so that I could have a good 
look around. I saw another vessel, a brig, to the eastward of 
us, way ahead and reported it. The schooner had in the 
meanwhile sailed very fast, for when I started in to come down 
she was off our beam. From all appearances and her manner 
of sailing we concluded afterwards that she had a drag out. 
We then went to breakfast, the schooner kept ahead of us, and 
appeared to be after the other vessel. Then the captain altered 
the brig's course, tacking to the westward, keeping a little off 
from the wind to make good way through the water to get 
clear of her if possible. After breakfast when we came on deck 
the schooner was coming down on us under a full press of sail. 
I noticed two kegs of powder alongside our two short carronades, 
the only guns we had. Our means of defense, however, proved 
utterly worthless, as the shot was a number of sizes too large 
for the gun. 

"A few moments before this, the schooner had fired a shot 
at us to heave to, which Captain Butman was on the point of 
doing as I came on deck. The schooner then hoisted patriotic 
colors (Columbian flag), backed her main top-sail, and laid 
to about half a mile to the windward. She was a long, low, 
straight top-sail schooner of about one hundred and fifty tons 
burthen, painted black with a narrow white streak, a large 
figure-head with a horn of plenty painted white; masts raked 

434 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

aft, and a large main-top-mast, a regular Baltimore clipper. 
We could not see any name. She carried thirty or more men, 
with a long thirty-two pound swivel amidships, with four brass 
guns, two on each side. 

" A hail came in English from the schooner, asking us where 
we were from and where bound and what our cargo was. Cap- 
tain Butman replied 'tea and salt-petre.' The same voice from 
the schooner then hailed us for the captain to lower a boat and 
come alongside and bring him his papers. The boat was got 
ready and Captain Butman and four men — Jack Ardissone, 
Thomas Fuller, Benjamin Larcom and Fred Trask — got in 
and pulled to the schooner. When they started Captain But- 
man shook hands with the mate, Mr. Reed, and told him to do 
the best he could if he never saw him again. 

" The Mexicans boat pulled up to the gangway of the schooner 
but they ordered it to go to the forechains where five of the pirates 
jumped into our boat, not permitting any of our men to go on 
board the schooner and pushed off, ordering the captain back 
to the brig. They were armed with pistols in their belts and 
long knives up their sleeves. While at the schooner's side, after 
getting into our boat, one of the pirates asked their captain in 
Spanish what they should do with us, and his answer was: 
'Dead cats don't mew — have her thoroughly searched, and 
bring aboard all you can — you know what to do with them.' 
The orders of the captain of the schooner being in Spanish, were 
understood by only one of the Mexican's crew then in the boat, 
namely Ardissone, who burst into tears, and in broken English 
declared that all was over with them. 

" It was related by one of our crew that while the Mexican's 
boat was at the forechains of the schooner, the brig before 
mentioned was plainly seen to the eastward, and the remark 
was made to Thomas Fuller that it would be a good thing to 
shove off and pull for the other vessel in sight, to which proposi- 

435 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

tion Fuller scornfully answered 'I will do no such things. I 
will stay and take my chances with the boys.' 

" Our boat returned to the brig and Captain Butman and the 
five pirates came on board; two of them went down in the 
cabin with us, and the other three loafed around on deck. Our 
first mate came up from the cabin and told us to muster aft and 
get the money up. Luscomb and I, being near the companion- 
way, started to go down into the cabin when we met the boat- 
swain of the pirate coming up, who gave the signal for attack. 
The three pirates on deck sprang on Luscomb and myself, 
striking at us with the long knives across our heads. A Scotch 
hat I happened to have on with a large cotton handkerchief 
inside, saved me from a severe wounding as both were cut 
through and through. Our mate, Mr. Reed, here interfered 
and attempted to stop them from assaulting us whereupon 
they turned on him. 

"We then went down into the cabin and into the run; there 
were eight of us in all; six of our men then went back into the 
cabin, and the steward and myself were ordered to pass the 
money up which we did, to the cabin floor, and our crew then 
took it and carried it on deck. In the meantime, the pirate 
officer in charge (the third mate) had hailed the schooner and 
told them they had found wlmt they were looking for. The 
schooner then sent a launch containing sixteen men, which 
came alongside and they boarded us. They made the crew 
pass the boxes of money down into the boat, and it was then 
conveyed on board the pirate. 

" The launch came back with about a dozen more men, and 
the search began in earnest. Nine of them rushed down into 
the cabin where the captain. Jack Ardissone, and myself were 
standing. They beat the captain with their long knives, and 
battered a speaking trumpet to pieces over his head and shoul- 
ders. Seeing we could do nothing, I made a break to reach the 

43G 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 



deck by jumping out of the cabin window, thinking I could 
get there by grasping hold of the boat's davits and pulling myself 
on deck. Jack Ardissone, divining my movement, caught my 
foot as I was jumping and saved me, as I should probably have 
missed my calculation and gone overboard. Jack and I then 
ran and the pirates after both of us, leaving the captain whom 
they continued to beat and abuse, demanding more money. 
We ran into the steerage. Jack, not calculating the break of 
the deck, soon went over into the hold and I on top of him. 
For some reason the pirates gave up the chase before they 
reached the break between the decks, or they would have 
gone down with us. By the fall Jack broke two of his ribs. 
Under deck we had a clean sweep, there being no cargo, so we 
could go from one end of the vessel to the other. 

"The crew then got together in the forecastle and stayed 
there. We hadn't been there long before the mate, Mr. Reed, 
came rushing down, chased by the boatswain of the pirate, 
demanding his money. The mate then told Luscomb to go 
and get his money, which he had previously given Luscomb to 
stow away for him in some safe place; there were two hundred 
dollars in specie, and Luscomb had put it under the wood in 
the hold. Luscomb went and got it, brought it up and gave 
it to the pirate, who untied the bag, took a handful out, retied 
the bag, and went up on deck and threw the handful of money 
overboard so that those on the schooner could see that they 
had found more money. 

"Then the pirates went to Captain Butman and told him 
that if they found any more money which we hadn't surrendered, 
they would cut all our throats. I must have followed them 
into the cabin, for I heard them tell the captain this. Previous 
to this, we of the crew found that we had about fifty dollars, 
which we secured by putting into the pickle keg, and this was 
secretly placed in the breast-hook forward. On hearing this 

437 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

threat made to the captain I ran back and informed the crew 
what I had heard, and we took the money out of my keg and 
dropped it down the air-streak, which is the space between the 
inside and outside planking. It went way down into the 
keelson. Our carpenter afterwards located its exact position 
and recovered every cent of it. Strange to say the first thing 
they searched on coming below was the pickle keg. The 
search of our effects by the pirates was pretty thorough, and 
they took all new clothes, tobacco, etc. In the cabin they 
searched the captain's chest, but failed to get at seven hundred 
dollars which he had concealed in the false bottom; they had 
previously taken from him several dollars which he had in his 
pocket, and his gold watch, and had also relieved the mate of 
his watch. 

" About noon it appeared to be very quiet on deck, we having 
been between decks ever since the real searching party came on 
board. We all agreed not to go on deck again and to make 
resistance with sticks of wood if they attempted to come down, 
determined to sell our lives as dearly as possible. Being some- 
what curious, I thought I'd peep up and see what they were 
doing; as I did so, a cocked pistol was pressed to my head, and 
I was ordered to come on deck and went, expecting to be thrown 
overboard. One took me by the collar and held me out at 
arm's length to plunge a knife into me. I looked him right 
in the eye and he dropped his knife and ordered me to get the 
doors of the forecastle which were below. I went down and 
got them, but they did not seem to understand how they were 
to be used, and they made me come up and ship them. There 
were three of them and as I was letting the last one in I caught 
the gleam of a cutlass being drawn, so taking the top of the door 
on my stomach, I turned a quick somersault and went down 
head first into the forecastle. The cutlass came down, but 
did not find me; it went into the companionway quite a depth. 

438 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

Then they hauled the shde over and fastened it, and we were 
all locked below. 

"They fastened the aft companionway leading down into 
the cabin, locking our officers below as well. From noises that 
came from overhead, we were convinced that the pirates had 
begun a work of destruction. All running rigging, including 
tiller ropes, was cut, sails slashed into ribbons, spars cut loose, 
ship's instruments and all movable articles on which they could 
lay their hands were demolished, the yards were tumbled down 
and we could hear the main-boom swinging from side to side. 
They then, as appears by later developments, filled the caboose 
or cook's galley, with combustibles, consisting of tar, tarred 
rope-yarn, oakum, etc., setting fire to the same, and lowered 
the dismantled mainsail so that it rested on top of the caboose. 

"In this horrible suspense we waited for an hour or more 
when all became quiet save the wash of the sea against the 
brig. All this time the crew had been cooped up in the darkness 
of the forecastle, of course unable to speculate as to what would 
be the next move of the enemy, or how soon death would come 
to each and all of us. 

"Finally at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Thomas 
Fuller came running forward and informed us that the pirates 
were leaving the ship. One after another of the crew made 
their way to the cabin and on peering out of the two small stern 
windows saw the pirates pulling for the schooner. Captain 
Butman was at this time standing on the cabin table, looking 
out from a small skylight, the one means of egress the pirates 
had neglected to fasten. We told him that from the odor of 
smoke, we believed they had fired the brig. He said he knew 
it and ordered us to remain quiet. He then stepped down 
from the table and for several moments knelt in prayer, after 
which he calmly told us to go forward and he would call us 
when he wanted us. 

439 



The Ships and Sailors of Old SaleTn 

" We had not been in the forecastle long before he called us 
back, and directed that we get all buckets under deck and fill 
them with water from casks in the hold. On our return he 
again opened the skylight and drew himself up on deck. We 
then handed him a small bucket of water, and he crept along 
the rail in the direction of the caboose, keeping well under the 
rail in order to escape observation from the schooner. The 
fire was just breaking through the top of the caboose when he 
arrived in time to throw several handfuls of water on top so as 
to keep it under. This he continued to do for a long time, not 
daring to extinguish it immediately lest the pirates should notice 
the absence of smoke and know that their plan for our destruc- 
tion had been frustrated. 

"When the fire had been reduced to a reasonable degree of 
safety, he came and opened the aft companionway and let us 
all up. The schooner, being a fast sailer, was in the distance 
about hull down. The fire in the caboose was allowed to burn 
in a smouldering condition for perhaps a half-hour or more, 
keeping up a dense smoke. By this time the pirate schooner 
was well nigh out of sight, or nearly topsails under, to the 
eastward. On looking about us, we found the Mexican in a 
bad plight, all sails, halyards and running gear were cut, head- 
sails dragging in the water, and on account of the tiller ropes 
being cut loose, the brig was rolling about in the trough of the 
sea. We at once set to work repairing damages as speedily as 
possible and before dark had bent new sails and repaired our 
running gear to a great extent. 

"Fortunately through the shrewdness and foresight of Cap- 
tain Butman, our most valuable ship instruments, compass, 
quadrant, sextant, etc., had escaped destruction. It seems that 
immediately on discovering the true character of the stranger, 
he had placed them in the steerage and covered them with a 
quantity of oakum. This the pirates somehow overlooked in 

440 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

their search, although they passed and repassed it continually 
during their visit. 

"The brig was then put before the wind, steering north, 
and as by the intervention of Divine Providence, a strong 
wind came up, which before dark developed into a heavy squall 
with thunder and lightning, so we let the brig go before the 
fury of the wind, not taking in a stitch of canvas. We steered 
north until next morning, when the brig's course was altered, 
and we stood due west, tacking off and on several courses for 
a day or two, when finally a homeward course was taken which 
was kept up until we reached Salem, October 12, 1832." 

Thus ends the narrative of able seaman, John Battis. If the 
valor of Captain Butman and his crew be questioned, in that 
they made no resistance, it must be remembered that they were 
under the guns of the pirate which could have sunk the Mexican 
at the slightest sign of trouble aboard the brig. And although 
the decks of the Mexican were not stained with the slaughter 
of her crew, it is certain that her captors expected to burn them 
alive. These nineteenth century pirates were not a gentle 
brood, even though they did not always make their victims 
walk a plank. In 1829, only three years before the capture of 
the Mexican, the brig Netv Priscilla of Salem was found appar- 
ently abandoned within a day's sail of Havana. The boarding 
party from the ship that sighted her found a boy of Salem, a 
lad in his teens, spiked to the deck, an act of wanton torture 
committed after every other soul on board had been thrown 
overboard. 

The capture of the pirates of the Mexican was an extraordi- 
nary manifestation of the long arm of Justice. A short time 
after the return of the brig to Salem, the ship Gleaner 
sailed for the African coast. Her commander, Captain Hunt 
happened to carry with him a copy of the Essex Register which 
under a date of October, 1832, contained the statement of 

441 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Captain Butman in which he described in detail the model, 
rig and appearance of the pirate schooner. Captain Hunt 
perused the statement with lively interest and without doubt 
kept a weather eye out for a rakish black schooner with a white 
streak, as he laid his course to the southward. He touched at 
the island of St. Thomas and while at anchor in the harbor saw 
a topsail schooner come in from seaward. The stranger an- 
chored near-by, and Captain Hunt sat on his quarter-deck with 
a copy of the Essex Register in his fist. The more he studied, 
first the journal and then the schooner, the stronger grew his 
suspicions that this was the sea robber which had gutted the 
Mexican. There was her "large main-top-mast, but with no 
yards or sail on it," "her mainsail very square at the head, sails 
made with split cloth and all new," and "the large gun on a 
pivot amidships," the brass twelve-pounders gleaming from her 
side, and "about seventy men who appeared to be chiefly 
Spaniards and mulattos." 

Having digested these facts. Captain Hunt went ashore and 
confided in an old friend. These two invented an excuse for 
boarding the schooner, and there on the deck they spied two 
spars painted black which had been stolen from the Mexican. 
Captain Butman had told Captain Hunt about these black 
spars before they parted in Salem. The latter at once decided 
to slip his cable that night, take the Gleaner to sea and run 
down to the nearest station where he might find English war 
vessels. There was a leak somewhere, for just before dark, 
the suspicious schooner made sail and under a heavy press of 
canvas fled for the open sea. As she passed within hailing 
distance of the Gleaner a hoarse voice shouted in broken Eng- 
lish that if he ventured to take his brig to sea that night, he and 
his crew would have their throats slitted before daylight. 

Captain Hunt stayed in harbor, but his chagrin was lightened 
when he saw a British frigate come in almost before the schooner 

442 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

had sailed beyond sight. Manning a boat he hurried aboard 
the frigate, and told her commander what he knew about the 
Mexican and what he more than guessed about the rakish 
schooner. The frigate put about and made sail in chase but 
the pirate eluded her in the night and laid a course for the 
African coast. 

Shortly after this, the British war brig Curlew, Captain 
Henry D. Trotter, was cruising on the west coast of Africa, and 
through the officers of the frigate which had chased the pirate 
out off St. Thomas, she received the story of the Mexican and 
a description of the schooner. Captain Trotter cogitated and 
recalled the appearance of a schooner he had recently noticed 
at anchor in the River Nazareth on the African coast where 
slavers were wont to hover. The description seemed to fit so 
closely that the Curlew sailed at once to investigate. When 
she reached the mouth of the river. Captain Trotter with a 
force of forty men in boats went upstream, and pulled alongside 
the schooner at daybreak, ready to take her by storm. The 
pirates, however, scrambled into their own boats, after setting 
fire to their schooner and escaped to the shore where they took 
refuge in the swamps and could not be found. A few days 
after a prize crew had been put aboard the schooner she was 
accidentally blown up, killing two officers and two men of the 
Curlew. The mysterious rakish schooner therefore vanishes 
from the story with a melodramatic finale. 

The stranded pirates meantime had sought the protection of 
a native king, who promised to surrender them when the 
demand came from Captain Trotter. After much difficulty, 
four of the pirates were taken in this region. Five more were 
captured after they had fled to Fernando Po, and the vigilance 
of the British navy swelled the list with seven more of the 
ruffians who were run down at St. Thomas. The pirates were 
first taken to England, and surrendered to the United States 

443 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Government for trial in 1834. On August twenty-seventh of 
that year the British brig of war Savage entered Salem harbor 
with a consignment of sixteen full-fledged pirates to be delivered 
to the local authorities. 

There was not a British flag in Salem, and the informal 
reception committee was compelled to ask the British com- 
mander for an ensign which might be raised on shore in honor 
of the visit. The pirates were landed at Crowninshield's 
Wharf and taken in carriages to the Town Hall. Twelve of 
them, all handcuffed together, were arraigned at the bar for 
examination, and "their plea of not guilty was reiterated with 
great vociferation and much gesticulation and heat." One of 
them, Perez, had confessed soon after capture, and his statement 
was read. The Pinda, for so the schooner was named, had 
sailed from Havana with the intention of making a slaving 
voyage to Africa. When twenty days out they fell in with an 
American brig (the Mexican), which they boarded with pistols 
and knives. After robbing her, they scuttled and burned an 
English brig, and then sailed for Africa. 

"The hall was crowded to suffocation," says the Salem 
Gazette of that date, " with persons eager to behold the visages 
of a gang of pirates, that terror and bugbear of the inhabitants 
of a navigating community. It is a case, so far as we recollect, 
altogether without precedent to have a band of sixteen pirates 
placed at the bar at one time and charged with the commission 
of the same crime." 

The sixteen pirates of the Pinda were taken to Boston to 
await trial in the United States Court. Wliile in prison they 
seem to have inspired as much sympathy as hostility. In fact, 
from all accounts they were as mild-mannered a band of cut- 
throats as ever scuttled a ship. A writer in the Boston Post, 
September 2, 1834, has left these touches of personal description : 

"Having heard a terrific description of the Spaniards now 

444 



TJie Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

confined in Leverett Street jail on a charge of piracy, we availed 
ourselves of our right of entree and took a birdseye glance at 
the monsters of the deep but were somewhat surprised to find 
them small and ordinary looking men, extremely civil and good- 
natured, with a free dash of humor in their conversation and 
easy indifference to their situation. The first in importance as 
well as in appearance is the Captain, Pedro Gibert, a Castilian 
38 years old, and the son of a merchant. In appearance he did 
not come quite up to our standard for the leader of a brave 
band of buccaneers, although a pleasant and rather a handsome 
mariner." 

Captain Pedro Gibert is further described as having " a round 
face, ample and straight nose, and a full but not fierce black 
eye." Francisco Ruiz the carpenter, was "only five feet three 
inches high, and though not very ferocious of aspect will never 
be hung for his good looks." Antonio Farrer, a native African 
had several seams on his face resembling sabre gashes. These 
were tattoo marks, on each cheek a chain of diamond-shaped 
links, and branded on the forehead to resemble an ornamental 
band or coronet." With a red handkerchief bound about his 
head Antonio must have been ferocious in action. 

In October, November, 1835, the trial was begun before 
Justice Joseph Story and District Judge John Davis. The 
prisoners at the bar were Captain Gibert, Bernado de Soto, 
first mate; Francisco Ruiz, Nicola Costa, Antonio Ferrer, 
Manuel Boyga, Domingo de Guzman, Juan Antonio Portana, 
Manuel Castillo, Angel Garcia, Jose Velasquez, and Juan 
Montenegro. Manuel Delgardo was not present. He had 
committed suicide in the Boston jail some time before. 

The pirates conducted themselves with a dignity and courage 
that showed them to be no mongrel breed of outlaw, and their 
finish was worthy of better careers. The trial lasted two weeks 
and the evidence, both direct and circumstantial was of the 

445 



The Shijys and Sailors of Old Salem 

strongest kind against seven of the pirates. Five were acquitted 
after proving to the satisfaction of the jury that they had not 
been on board the Pinda at the time of the Mexican affair. 
Thomas Fuller of Salem was a witness, and he upset the decorum 
of the court in a scandalous manner. When asked to identify 
the prisoners he stepped up to one of them and shouted : 

"You're the scoundrel that was first over the rail and 
you knocked me endwise with the flat of a cutlass. Take 
that." 

The impetuous young witness caught the prisoner on the jaw 
with a fist like an oaken billet and drove him spinning across 
the room by way of emphatic identification. 

Before sentence was pronounced Captain Gibert rose and 
said in Spanish: 

"I am innocent of the crime — I am innocent." With that 
he presented a statement drawn up by himself in a " remarkably 
well written hand" which he desired might be read. After 
denouncing the traitor Perez, who had turned State's evidence, 
the captain stated that Delgardo, before he had cut his throat in 
jail, had avowed his determination to commit suicide because 
his extorted and false confession had involved the lives of his 
companions. He alleged that his boatswain had been poisoned 
by Captain Trotter on Fernando Po for denying the robbery, 
and had exclaimed just before his death: 

'"The knaves have given me poison. My entrails are burn- 
ing,' after which he expired foaming at the mouth." 

The first mate, de Soto, presented a paper addressed to the 
presiding "Senor," in which he protested his innocence, "before 
the tribunal, before the whole universe, and before the Omnipo- 
tent Being." He went on to say that he was born at Corunna 
where his father was an administrator of the ecclesiastical rank ; 
that he had devoted himself to the study of navigation from the 
age of fourteen, and at twenty-two had "by dint of assiduity 

446 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

passed successfully through his examinations and reached the 
grade of captain, or first pilot, in the India course. He had 
shortly after espoused the daughter of an old and respectable 
family." 

(At this point the clerk, Mr. Childs became much affected, 
shed tears and was obliged for a time to resign the reading of 
the document to Mr. Bodlam.) 

The memorial of Bernado de Soto closed in this wise : 

"Nevertheless I say no more than that they (the witnesses) 
have acted on vain presumption and I forgive them. But let 
them not think it will be so with my parents and my friends who 
will cry to God continually for vengeance on those who have 
sacrificed my life while innocent." 

Manuel Castillo, the Peruvian, "who had a noble Rolla 
countenance," exclaimed with upraised hands: 

" I am innocent in the presence of the Supreme Being of this 
Assembly, and of the Universe. I swear it and I desire the 
court will receive my memorial." 

The mate de Soto obtained a respite after telling the following 
story which investigation proved to be true : 

He had been master of a vessel which made a voyage from 
Havana to Philadelphia in 1831, and was consigned to a "respect- 
able house there." During the return voyage to Havana he dis- 
covered the ship Minerva ashore on one of the Bahama reefs, 
and on fire. The passengers and crew were clinging to the 
masts and yards. He approached the wreck at great danger to 
himself and vessel and took off seventy-two persons, whom he 
carried safely to Havana. He was presented with a silver cup 
by the insurance office at Philadelphia as token of their appre- 
ciation of his bravery and self-sacrifice. The ship Minerva 
belonged in Salem, and the records showed that the rescue 
performed by de Soto had been even more gallant than he 
pictured it to the Court. For this service to humanity he 

447 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

escaped the death penalty for his later act of piracy and was 
subsequently pardoned by President Andrew Jackson. 

When his comrades were called for sentence by Judge Story 
they showed the same firmness, self-possession and demeanor 
of innocence which had marked their conduct throughout the 
trial. The death sentence for the crime of piracy on the high 
seas was announced in these words: 

"The sentence is that you and each of you, for the crime 
whereof you severally stand convicted, be severally decreed, 
taken and adjudged to be pirates and felons, and that each of 
you be severally hung by the neck until you be severally dead. 
And that the marshal of this District of Massachusetts or his 
Deputy, do on peril of what may fall thereon, cause execution 
to be done vipon you and each of you severally on the 11th day 
of March next ensueing, between the hours of 9 and 12 of the 
same day; that you be now taken from hence to the jail in 
Boston in the District aforesaid, from whence you came; there 
or in some other safe and convenient jail within the District to be 
closely kept until the day of execution; and from thence to be 
taken on the day appointed for the execution as aforesaid to 
the place aforesaid; there to be hanged until you are severally 
dead. I earnestly recommend to each of you to employ the 
intermediate period in sober reflection upon your past life, and 
conduct, and by prayers and penitence and religious exercises 
to seek the favor of Almighty God for any sins and crimes which 
you may have committed. And for this purpose I earnestly 
recommend to you to seek the aid and assistance of the Ministers 
of our holy religion of the denominations of Christians to which 
you severally belong. And in bidding you, so far as I can 
presume to know, an eternal farewell, I offer up my earnest 
prayer that Almighty God may in his infinite goodness, have 
mercy on your souls." 

The Salem Gazette records that " after the sentence was read 

448 



The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main 

in English by the Judge, it was translated into Spanish, Cap- 
tain Gibert did not waver a particle from his most extraordinary 
firmness of manner, and the commanding dignity of all his 
movements. The muscles of de Soto's face quivered, and he 
seemed subdued. Castillo looked the same high scorn with 
which he appears to have regarded the whole proceeding. The 
rest gave no particular indication of their feelings. The Judge 
ordered the prisoners to be remanded and they w^ere ironed and 
carried out of court, the crowd assembled being much excited 
by this moving scene. Immediately after pronouncing the 
sentence Judge Story left the court, appearing deeply affected 
by the painful duty which he has evidently most reluctantly 
performed under the highest sense of responsibility." 

The local chronicle thus closes the story of the piracy of the 
Mexican, six months after the trial : 

"Five of the pirates, the captain and four of the crew were 
executed this morning at half past ten. We have already men- 
tioned the temporary reprieve of the mate de Soto on account 
of rescuing the crew of an American vessel, and of Ruiz, the 
carpenter, on the score of insanity. They were accompanied 
to the gallows by a Spanish priest, but none of them made 
any confession or expressed any contrition. They all pro- 
tested their innocence to the last. Last night Captain Gibert 
was discovered with a piece of glass with which he intended 
to commit suicide. And one of the men (Boyga) cut his throat 
with a piece of tin, and was so much weakened by loss of blood 
that he was supported to the gallows, and seated in a chair 
on the drop when it fell. It would seem from their conduct 
that they retained hopes of pardon to the last moment." 

De Soto, the mate, who escaped the noose, returned to Cuba 
and was for many years in the merchant marine in those waters. 
More than a generation after the Mexican affair, a Salem 
shipmaster, Captain Nicholas Snell, had occasion to take 

449 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

a steamer that traded between Havana and Matanzas. He had 
attended the trial of the pirates in Boston and he recognized 
the captain of the steamer as de Soto. The former buccaneer 
and the Salem captain became friends and before they parted 
de Soto related the story of the Pindas voyage. He said that 
he had shipped aboard her at Havana where she was represented 
as a slaver. Once at sea, however, he discovered that the 
Pinda was a pirate, and that he must share her fortune. He 
frankly discussed the capture of the Mexican, and threw an 
unholy light upon the character of Captain Gibert. The night 
after the capture the officers of the Pinda were drinking reck- 
lessly in the cabin, and one of the mates held up his glass of 
rum and shouted: "Here's to the squirming Yankees." 

The captain had taken it for granted that the crew of the 
Mexican had been killed to a man before the brig was set on 
fire, and when the truth came out, he was fairly beside himself. 
With black oaths he sprang on deck, put his vessel about, and 
for two days cruised in search of the Mexican, swearing to slay 
every man on board if he could overhaul her in order to insure 
the safety of his own precious neck. In truth, that gale with 
thunder and lightning before which the Mexican drove all that 
thick night was seaman John Battis' "intervention of Divine 
Providence." 

When the word was brought to Salem that de Soto was to be 
found on the Cuban coast, more than one Salem skipper, when 
voyaging to Havana or Matanzas, took the trouble to find the 
former pirate and spin a yarn or two with him over a cool glass 
and a long, black cigar. 



450 



CHAPTER XXII 

GENERAL FREDERICK TOWNSEND WARD * 

{Leader of the Chinese "Ever Victorious Army") 

THE career of Frederick Townsend Ward flashes across 
the later day history of Salem like a meteor. After a 
youth crowded with astonishing adventure this mer- 
chant sailor and soldier of fortune became the organizer and 
first leader of the "Ever Victorious Army" of the Chinese 
Imperial forces in the Tai-ping Rebellion and was killed while 
storming a walled city at the head of his troops in his thirtieth 
year. So memorable were his services in this, the most disas- 
trous armed conflict of modern times, that to this day his ashes 
which rest at Sung Kiang, are yearly honored by offerings of in- 
cense and solemn rites. A temple and a shrine mark his burial 
place and by an edict of their Emperor the Chinese people are 
commanded forever to worship and do reverence to the spirit of 
this foreign soldier who died ten thousand miles away from 
the New England seaport in which he was born and where his 
forefathers sleep. 

* This sketch of the life of Frederick Townsend Ward is taken for the most 
part, from the Essex Institute Historical Collections, Vol. XLIV, Jan. 1908, 
to which Hon. Robert S. Rantoul contributed a most complete and authoritative 
account of Genera! Ward's family history and achievements. Mr. Rantoul 
included also the Chinese decrees, and other documentary material which are 
made use of as Chapter XXX of this book, and the author desires to make clear 
his obligations, both to the researches and literary labor of Mr. Rantoul and to 
the Essex Institute for permission to make use of this material as properly 
belonging in a record of the deeds of the Salem men of seafaring stock and 
training. 

451 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

In this extraordinary man were focused at white heat the 
spirit of high adventure and the compelUng desire to seek 
far distant seas and play the game of Ufe for high stakes which 
had made Salem famous in her golden age. Frederick Town- 
send Ward came of old seafaring stock which had fought and 
sailed through one generation after another for more than two 
centuries of Salem history. As far away as 1639 his ancestor. 
Miles Ward, had been a commissioned officer at the siege of 
Louisburg and had served with Wolfe at the storming of Quebec. 
His paternal grandfather, Gamaliel Hodges Ward, of a family 
of fifteen children, had one brother who served as a lieutenant 
in the American navy during the War of 1812 and another who 
was naval officer of the Port of Salem. This grandfather 
married Priscilla Lambert Townsend, thus uniting three strains 
of militant seafaring blood. Captain Moses Townsend had 
died in England as a prisoner of war during the Revolution, his 
son of fifteen sharing his captivity as a patriotic seaman. On 
the records of the Salem Marine Society, founded in 1766, are 
the names of nine Wards and three Lamberts, and among the 
members of the Salem East India Marine Society are to be found 
six Wards, six Hodges and a Townsend all of whom must have 
doubled Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope as shipmasters 
or supercargoes in order to qualify for admission to the Society. 

The father of Frederick Townsend Ward was a shipmaster 
and the son born in 1831 passed his boyhood in Salem at a 
time when, although the world-wide commerce had begun to 
ebb, the old town still had its schools of navigation, its nauti- 
cal instrument dealers, its shipyards and ropewalks, its East 
India warehouses, its sailors' lodging houses, dance halls and 
slop shops crowded along the water front. The wharves were 
still thronged with the activities of voyagers inbound from and 
outbound to the uttermost parts of the earth. Although the 
railroads had begun to build up the larger deep water ports and 

452 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

to sap the life of such lesser ports as Salem, yet even hi those 
days to be born in Salem was to be born a sailor. The harbor 
still knew the fleets which kept it in touch with scores of remote 
and romantic ports and the marvelous tales of sea-tanned 
sailors tempted boyhood to dream of exploring regions little 
known in books. 

"The stick the schoolboy whittled shaped itself into a hull, 
a rudder, a bowsprit or a boom. When in school he drew lines 
on his slate to relieve the tedium of the rule of three, his sketches 
took form in yards and shrouds and bob-stays. Give him a 
box of water colors and the private signals of the East India 
merchants were its earliest products. If he were too little to 
pull a pair of oars, he sculled a dory with one, and he was no 
more than in breeches when he knew every ring-bolt, block and 
gasket from cut-water to stern-post of the East Indiamen dis- 
charging at Derby Wharf. If he could muster a few shillings, 
some kindly mariner took charge of them as a venture and 
brought him home in a twelve month or so their value trebled 
in nutmegs or pepper-corns or gum copal. If, on leaving 
school, he did not ship before the mast he tried to sail as cabin 
boy or ship's clerk, or supercargo. 

"Wlien he had won his fight on the sea and came at last to 
live in comfort on shore, if he built himself a den in which to 
doze and smoke and read and chat, it was apt to be shaped 
like a ship's cabin, to have a swinging light overhead, transoms 
for bunks, and spyglass, compass and barometer handy. The 
dust and cobwebs under the eaves of his attic concealed camphor 
and cedar trunks stuffed with camel's hair shawls, pongee silks 
and seersucker suits. A log or two of sandalwood, brought 
home for dunnage, might sizzle on the andirons and fill his house 
with the spicy breath of Arabia. 

"When a family returned from residence in foreign lands it 
was not unusual for them to bring Chinese cooks, nurse maids 

453 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and house servants. The high-bred Parsee merchant with his 
lofty head-dress of figured taffeta and buckram was no stranger 
in Salem, nor was the turbanned Indian or Arab unknown." 

Such was the atmosphere in which young Frederick Townsend 
Ward was reared and the spirit of the place lured his daring and 
romantic fancy to dream of enterprises on blue water. He 
sailed in all kinds of small craft about Salem harbor before he 
was in his teens and was noted as the boldest lad and best seaman 
of the company of ardent friends whom he chose as his com- 
panions. He sought and found employment at sea when he 
was no more than fifteen years old and it sounds extraordinary 
in these times to learn that at this age he went out on his first 
voyage as second mate of the clipper ship Hamilton bound from 
New York to China. This stripling mate of fifteen years was 
placed in a position of authority over his watch of rugged fore- 
castle hands, some of whom had been going to sea before he was 
born. Young Ward's father was known as a stern disciplinarian 
of the quarterdeck, and the son won a reputation for the same 
quality of resourceful manhood. His captain found him to be 
a smart, efficient and capable officer and so reported him to the 
owners of the ship. At eighteen years of age he was first mate 
of the ship Russell Glover commanded by his father, on a voyage 
from New York to San Francisco. In the latter port the ship 
was laid up for a long time and young Ward was kept on board 
as ship-keeper. His impetuous temperament could not long en- 
dure such monotony as this and it was at San Francisco that he 
forsook the sea for a time to lose himself in a haze of stormy ad- 
ventures as a soldier of fortune in Spanish American countries. 
It is known that during this period he gained the friendship of 
Garibaldi, who for eleven years previous to 1848 had been 
fighting in behalf of the revolutionary cause of Brazil. 

In 1851, at the age of twenty, the family records show that 
Ward was sailing as first mate of a bark from San Francisco to 

454 




~mZ^-^ ctT^^^^ 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

Shanghai where he left the ship and took a berth for a short 
time, on board one of the vessels moored in the river to prevent 
opium smuggling. In the following year he appears in the 
American merchant service once more as first mate of the ship 
Gold Hunter from Shanghai to Tehuantepec. 

Upon reaching Nicaragua his restless temperament must 
have impelled him to leave the quarter-deck, for somewhat 
later than this he joined a filibustering expedition of William 
Walker. The tragic history of this attempt to found an empire 
in Central America need not be told in detail. If Walker had 
succeeded he would have been called a man of military genius 
and a farsighted maker of destinies. He was shot by order of a 
drum-head court martial at daybreak on September 3, 1860, and 
the shattered remnants of his force were brought home to New 
York in the United States ship Wabash. 

Frederick Townsend Ward could not have remained long 
with Walker, however, for from Central America he made his 
way into Mexico and is said to have been offered a command 
in the Mexican army. His plans seem to have gone all wrong, 
for he set out penniless and alone to cross the country to lower 
California. Back in San Francisco once more he took a berth 
as first officer of the clipper ship Westward Ho of New York. 
It is claimed that between 1854 and 1856 Ward was on the Cri- 
mea as lieutenant in the French army, fighting against the Rus- 
sians. His sister has related that she was at boarding school 
during that period and that Frederick called on her there to 
take his leave, as he told her, " on his way to the Crimean War," 
but the dates are conflicting;. 

This page of his life, like those immediately preceding it, is 
more or less vague so far as details are concerned. It is certain, 
however, that Frederick Townsend Ward was picking up here 
and there as a soldier of fortune a knowledge of men and of 
military matters which were to stand him in service when the 

455 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

grand chance offered. He landed at Shanghai in the autumn of 
1859, probably as first mate of an American sailing ship. He 
was without money, without influence and without prospects, 
but he was determined to carve a place for himself among the 
Chinese people. The Tai-ping Rebellion had begun in 1851 
and had raged for eight years when Ward landed at Shanghai. 
This tremendous upheaval which was to continue six more 
years, and to cost the lives of twenty millions of Chinese, was 
threatening Shanghai and repeated attempts had been made 
to invest and capture this great port of foreign commerce and 
shipping. 

The Imperial Government had been unable to make effective 
headway against the vast hordes of rebels who had flocked to 
the standards of the Rebel leader, who called himself the 
" Heavenly King of the Great Dynasty of the Heavenly King- 
dom." By 18G0 the Tai-pings had swept across the populous 
and fertile regions of two of the three watercourses of China 
and their chief end now was to regain the mastery of the Yang- 
tsze Kiang. The destruction of property and population within 
the three months since their sally from the captured metropolis 
of Nanking, revived the stories told of the devastation caused by 
Attilla and Tamerlane. In August of this year Shanghai was 
threatened by a force of somewhat less than twenty thousand 
rebels and would have been captured if it had not been protected 
by British and French troops landed to protect the foreign 
interests of the port. 

Ward was twenty-seven years old at this time and found his 
first employment as an officer on one of the river steamers 
which plied up and down the Yang-tsze. He showed his 
mettle while engaged in this traffic, for a merchant of Shang- 
hai who took passage on Ward's steamer, relates that she 
grounded and was in danger of capture by Chinese pirates. 
The captain believed that destruction was so certain that he 

45G 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

talked of suicide. Ward took his place, put heart into the 
crew, stood the pirates off and got the steamer afloat. 

Meanwhile the foreign merchants and bankers of Shanghai 
were working hand in hand with the natives to strengthen the 
defense of the city. Large amounts of money were raised to 
equip gunboats and artillery and a foreign contingent was 
drilHng as a volunteer infantry force. Ward obtained a com- 
mission as first officer of the American-built gunboat Confucius, 
which was one of a flotilla organized to fight the rebels on the 
water. His commander. Captain Gough, made young Ward 
acquainted with an influential Chinese banker, Taki, who co- 
operated in behalf of the Chinese Imperial Government with 
the foreign residents of Shanghai who were furnishing arms and 
gunboats and money to attack the rebels. Ward made a 
brilliant record as a fighting oflScer in this gunboat service and 
won the admiration and confidence of this Taki, who was the 
confidential adviser of Li Hung Chang, then fast coming into 
prominence as the strong man of the demoralized Manchu 
Government at Peking. 

Douglas, the British biographer of Li Hung Chang, has 
placed it to the credit of the great Viceroy that he should have 
been astute enough to recognize the ability of this young Ameri- 
can wanderer who appeared upon the scene from nowhere in 
particular. This writer states that Ward was given employment 
as a military officer by the Association of Patriotic Merchants 
of Shanghai "at Li's instigation." It is certain that Ward did 
not let the grass grow under his feet. The Imperialists were in 
desperate straits and were seeking foreign aid. Wasting no 
words. Ward submitted a proposition to the Government 
through Taki, that he would, for a large cash price, undertake 
the capture of Sung Kiang, the capital city of the Shanghai 
district, and a great rebel stronghold, a few miles up the Yang- 
tzse. Once in possession of Sung Kiang he would make it his 

457 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

headquarters for operations by land and water, as a diversion 
to draw the Tai-pings away from Shanghai. 

This audacious proposition was accepted and funds were 
granted to make a beginning. A company of one hundred 
foreigners was enhsted by Ward, his recruits being picked from 
among the deserters and discharged seamen and other desperate 
riffraff of the naval and merchant fleets. With this handful of 
men hammered into some kind of discipline and well armed. 
Ward led the way to the walls of Sung Kiang beyond which the 
rebels were mustered in thousands. A desperate assault was 
made, but Ward had no artillery and could not batter a breach 
in the great walls. His men tried to take the place by a straight 
assault, but were beaten back, the motley legion badly cut up, 
and compelled to straggle back to Shanghai. 

Ward paid off and discharged this company and recruited his 
next force largely from among the native sailors of Manila who 
were always to be found in Shanghai. With only two white 
officers and less than one hundred men the American adven- 
turer made a second attack on the rebel stronghold and surpris- 
ing the garrison at night managed to open one of the gates and 
charge into the city. The Tai-pings were unable to withstand 
the headlong assault of this small column and surrendered the 
place, which was looted and the plunder given to the men who 
had captured it. 

Ward had carried out his contract and the Chinese Imperial 
Treasurer paid him his price. He had established a base and a 
fortress to hold and there were funds in his war chest. His 
success attracted many capable foreign fighting men and his 
force grew until General Frederick Townsend Ward was able 
to organize a formidable body of drilled soldiers to which the 
name of Chang-Shing Kiun, or "Ever Victorious Force," was 
given by the Chinese. Its composition was heterogeneous, but 
the energy, tact and discipline of the leader soon molded it into 

458 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

something like a martial corps, able to serve as a nucleus for 
training a native army. 

"Foreigners generally looked down upon the undertaking 
and many of the allied naval and military officers regarded it 
with doubt and dislike. It had to prove its character by works, 
but the successive defeats of the insurgents during the year 
1862 at Kiangsu and Chehkiang clearly demonstrated the might 
of those drilled men over ten times their number of undisciplined 
braves. 

"Soon after his first success General Ward decided to move 
against Tsing-pu, a Rebel stronghold thirty miles from his base. 
The flower of his fighting force for this expedition consisted of 
five drill-masters and twenty-five deserters, mostly English, 
whom he had secretly enlisted at Shanghai. Added to these 
was his small command of Manila-men, now two hundred in 
number and a body of five thousand Chinese from the highly 
paid, picked troops of the foremost Chinese general, Li Ai Tang, 
a corps distinguished by the title of "Imperial Braves."* 

In September of 1861 Ward launched this force against 
Tsing-pu, which was garrisoned by two thousand rebels, who 
were commanded by a brilliant English officer named Savage. 
The defense conducted by this opposing soldier of fortune was 
so successful that Ward's little army was crumpled up by 
volleys of musketry poured from the walls and totally defeated 
in an engagement which lasted not more than a quarter of an 
hour. Half of the attacking force was killed or wounded and 
Ward himself was five times hit by bullets. While he was under 
the surgeon's care in Shanghai he gave it out that his force had 
been disbanded because the foreign allies set up the claim that 
he had been guilty of a breach of neutrality. His enlistments 
and drills went on in secret, however, and his chief supporter, 
Taki, put him in possession of several batteries of artillery. 
* The Middle Kingdom, by S. Wells Williams. 
459 



The Sliips and Sailors of Old Salem 

When Ward was allowed to leave the hospital he mustered all 
the men he could find of his old corps and made ready to take 
the field. Again he sallied out against Tsing-pu, but the second 
attack was even more disastrous than the first. He lost his 
guns and his gunboats and many of his men and returned to his 
headquarters at Sung Kiang beaten and discredited. Taki, 
representing the Imperial Government, had lost confidence in 
Ward as a soldier, but Li Hung Chang still had faith in him 
and was ready to support him in further movements. 

Ward's funds were at a low ebb at this time, for Admiral Sir 
James Hope, of the British Navy, put him under arrest and held 
him a close prisoner on the flagship Chesapeake. The Admiral 
made an effort to bring Ward to trial on the charge of recruiting 
deserters from the British Navy, but the American soldier 
proved that he was a naturalized subject of China and the 
Admiral had no other resource than to keep this troublesome 
interloper a prisoner on board the flagship. He made his 
escape by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. After a 
series of thrilling adventures he once more returned to the task 
of recruiting British deserters for his garrison at Sung Kiang. 

The jealousy and animosities of the British and other foreign 
naval men soon led Ward to change his tactics and he bent his 
efforts to recruit a native force to be commanded by European 
officers and drilled in the European school of arms. Neither 
the Imperial Government of China, nor its European allies 
could take exceptions to these methods and Sung Kiang became 
a military school for the training of the first modern Chinese 
Army. 

" On a personal inspection of the Camp of Instruction at 
Sung Kiang to which he had been invited, Sir James Hope was 
well received by the troops and reported favorably. He saw, 
for the first time in his life, a large force of native Chinamen 
paraded in European uniforms and showing themselves expert 

460 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

in European drill. In view of such results and of the possibilities 
which they disclosed, he found it best to wink at the harboring 
of a few deserters from his fleet, and Ward was promised every 
facility in his new attempt. 

" In the opening months of 1862 the time had come when the 
Allies were ready to throw off the mask of nominal neutrality, 
and to take open ground against the Rebellion. Humanity and 
civilization itself seemed to demand it. The Tai-ping move- 
ment was a little past its zenith, but still most disastrous to 
commerce and to the general interests of China as most foreign- 
ers saw them. The compact between the Imperialists and the 
Rebels had provided that the latter should not come within 
thirty miles of Shanghai and that the Allies should not interfere 
within that radius. It was limited to a year and the limit had 
expired. Ward at this time commanded a force of ten thousand 
men. He seems at last to have come to terms of perfect under- 
standing with the authorities, both native and foreign. 

" On February 21, 1862, General Ward took the offensive with 
a thousand men, supported by Admiral Hope and the French 
Admiral Protet, in a movement to enforce the observances of 
the thirty-mile limit. This movement involved many encoun- 
ters and was a brilliant success. From it Ward won great 
credit for his courage and strategic sense, together with the 
high appreciation of both his naval supporters. Of the six 
thousand Rebels who w^ere expected to make of the fortified 
town they were defending an impregnable fortress, a large part 
were captured and turned over to the mercies of the Shanghai 
Imperialists, who proceeded to decapitate them, with every 
circumstance of barbarity, in the public square of the city. 
Ward succeeded in arresting the slaughter as soon as it was 
brought to his knowledge. 

"This victory was hailed with great enthusiasm, and earned 
for Ward's corps the compliments of an Imperial decree. Its 

461 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

numbers were doubled, and Admiral Hope found it in his great 
heart to forgive his quondam prisoner and to praise him warmly. 
In March, 1862, a memorial to the British Consul-General from 
representative citizens of Shanghai, shows that progress was 
making, though slowly, for the relief of the port. 

"At this time Ward discovered that the Rebel leaders were 
contracting for gunboats in the United States. On learning 
from him this fact, Li Hung Chang made an effective protest 
to the American Minister, and applauded the loyalty which 
prompted Ward's information and which defeated the Rebel 
plan. But gunboats and implements of war were a necessity 
to both parties and Ward, through his brother who had joined 
him in China, and through his father, now a ship broker in 
New York, was in a position to supply the Imperialists with 
muskets, artillery and river steamers, and this he did. 

"On April 26th, an attack was planned on a strong walled 
town twenty miles from Shanghai. A half-dozen armed steamers 
and transports furnished by the Allies, together with thirty little 
Chinese gunboats, moved up the river in support of Ward's 
force, which consisted of three battalions with howitzers, and 
of a body of three thousand Chinese troops. The city fell and 
was looted, mainly, it was charged, by French sailors. 

" On May 6th, the English and French Admirals took their 
turn at the work and the French Admiral Protet, universally 
esteemed, was killed. A bronze statue commemorates the 
distinguished Frenchman at Shanghai, and Imperial honors 
were accorded him in an edict commanding gifts "to comfort 
the departed soul of the faithful," and sacrifices to be arranged 
by Li Hung Chang, "to the manes of the French Admiral." 
A detachment of the "Ever Conquering Legion" was present 
at the military mass celebrated in his honor at the Cathedral 
of Shanghai. 

" On May 13th, Ward made his fourth attempt to capture 

462 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

Tsing-pu and this time with complete success. No looting was 
permitted. Ward received in hand the stipulated thirty thou- 
sand taels as the price of this important capture, returning at 
the head of his victorious troops to the Sung Kiang headquarters. 
He had now equipped his men with arms bought from the 
English Army in India and with Prussian rifles. He had been 
supported in this attack by English and French troops and by a 
French gunboat carrying a heavy rifled gun which, after a three 
hours' bombardment, effected a breach and let in his force. 
But his men were later dislodged by an overwhelming Rebel 
horde, after a most creditable defense. 

" General Ward and his troops earned great distinction in an 
action on May 19th. Ward's ambition at this time seems to 
have been to lead a corps of twenty-five thousand men of all 
arms, and to be empowered by the Emperor to operate with a 
free hand, independently of English and French Allies, and to 
be responsible directly to him. The London Times, in a notice 
of his death, intimates that he had achieved this object. 

" At last, in August, 1862, he started out without support for 
a fifth attack upon the stronghold of Tsing-pu. A reward was 
offered for the first man to enter the city and a Manila-man, 
Macanaya, General Ward's devoted aid-de-camp, secured it. 
The 'Legion' succeeded at last in taking and holding the 
town. Probably this was the action so feelingly described by 
the one great captain among all the hosts enlisted under the 
Rebel flag. He complains that Li Hung Chang was employing 
" devil soldiers " against him, and found it necessary to march in 
person against these "Foreign Devils" at the head of ten 
thousand picked men. "Imagine it," he says, "a thousand 
devils keeping in check my ten thousand men! Who could 
put up with such a thing!" 

"Ward's relations with Taki were at this time most cordial, 
and they were now joint owners of two American-built gunboats. 

463 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

With other gunboats chartered by them, the banker and Gen- 
eral Ward — he was now a Chinese Admiral as well — fitted out 
an expedition against the river pirates. Bombarding failed 
to dislodge them from their stockades, but Ward disembarked 
a force and they fled before him. 

"Ward's success in disciplining the Chinese was beginning to 
stimulate the Allies. The French in turn raised a native legion 
and put a French officer at the head of it, and when an expedi- 
tion was organized against a force of Rebels threatening Ning 
Po, with the support of Captain Rhoderick Dhu commanding 
the Encounter whose draught of water forbade a near approach, 
a French lieutenant leading a corps of the new Franco-Chinese 
contingent was taken into action on board the river boat Con- 
jucius, while Ward's men, in equal numbers, were towed in 
launches up the river by the British gunboat Hardy. At the 
end of a six hours' struggle Ward fell back with the loss of eight 
officers and a hundred and fifty men. Next day the attack was 
renewed with success and the Rebels fled to Tsz Ki." 

The story now approaches the closing scene of Ward's career. 
He was now ordered to Ning Po to take command. The order 
reached him at dusk. Late as the hour was, he at once paraded 
his troops, reviewed them, and expressed the highest satisfaction 
with accouterments and drill. He was never to marshal them 
again. More devoted following no captain ever had. It was 
their pride to be known as "Ward's disciplined Chinese." 
He reached Ning Po with only the life-guard of Manila-men who 
were always near him, and at once made his dispositions for 
driving the Rebels out of Tsz Ki. 

I On the morning of September 20th he took five or six hun- 
dred men up the river and opened an attack on the fort at Tsz Ki 
with howitzers. A storming party passed him on its approach 
to the wall it was to scale, and he said to Captain Cook who 
led it : " You must do it with a rush, or we shall fail, for they 

464 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

are very numerous." He was shot and carried to the rear before 
the scaUng ladders could be placed. His command was largely 
made up of troops which were strangers to him, and it has been 
hinted that he may have been shot by his own men. The 
assault prevailed. Tsz Ki fell, and the Legion held the town. 

Ward's comrade in arms, Forrester, has thus described the 
closing scene: 

"'We now turned our attention to Tsz Ki. Ward being 
anxious to capture the city with the least possible delay, we 
started out together to reconnoitre the field. We had become 
so accustomed to the enemy's fire that we had grown somewhat 
careless. While we were standing together inspecting the 
position Ward put his hand suddenly to his side and exclaimed : 
' I have been hit.' A brief investigation showed that the wound 
was a serious one, and I had him carried on board the Hardy 
where surgical attendance was promptly given. I then held a 
consultation with the ofiicers of the expedition. It was decided 
to carry out Ward's plan and attack the city at once. Ladders 
were quickly thrown across the moat which were then drawn 
over and placed against the walls, and, before the garrison fully 
recognized what we were about, our troops were in possession 
of the city. 

" ' As soon as I had my troops properly housed and posted, I 
set out with General Ward for Ning Po. Arrived there, the 
General was removed to the house of Doctor Parker, a resident 
physician, and every precaution taken. But he had been grad- 
ually sinking, and he died that night. 

'"Early the next morning I ordered his body conveyed on 
board the Co7ifucius, that we might reach Shanghai at the 
earliest possible moment. The captain of the boat (Lynch by 
name, afterwards with Semmes in the Alabama) proved insub- 
ordinate. At nine o'clock we were ten miles out at sea and 
short of coal. I had the captain put in irons and turned over 

465 



The Ships arid Sailors of Old Salem 

the command to the Heutenant. We were then in such a strong 
current that I gave up hope of getting the steamer back to 
Ning Po, determined rather to work our way to a port near 
Shanghai. By the middle of the afternoon we ran alongside a 
British ship flying Dent and Company's flag. I knew this 
firm to be warm supporters of the Imperial Government, and 
so had no hesitance in boarding the vessel and obtaining a 
supply of coal. The funeral of General Ward at Shanghai was 
a most impressive one. A great number of civil and military 
officers accompanied his body to Sung Kiang, where it was 
interred with great pomp, and enjoyed the extraordinary honor 
of a resting place in the Confucian Temple." 

Captain Rhoderick Dhu, of the flagship Encounter, in trans- 
mitting Lieutenant Bogle's report of Ward's death to Sir 
James Hope, wrote: " It is now my painful duty to inform you 
that General Ward, while directing the assault, fell, mortally 
wounded. The Hardy brought him down the same evening 
to Ning Po, and he died the next morning in Doctor Parker's 
house. During a short acquaintance with General Ward I have 
learned to appreciate him much, and I fear his death will cast 
a gloom over the Imperial cause in China, of which he was the 
stay and prop." 

How cordially Sir James responded to these generous senti- 
ments from a gallant British sailor appears from his dispatch 
to Minister Burlingame, transmitting the announcement of 
Ward's death, which the American Minister embodied in his 
dispatch to Washington : 

"I am sure you will be much grieved to hear of poor Ward's 
death. The Chinese Government have lost a very able and 
gallant servant, who has rendered them much faithful service, 
and whom it will not be easy for them to replace." 

Of the events immediately following the death of Frederick 
Townsend Ward and the appointment of Colonel Peter Gordon 

466 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

(" Chinese " Gordon) to the command of the " Ever Victorious 
"Legion," Dr. S. Wells Williams in his monumental work, The 
Middle Kingdom, writes as follows: 

" The death of General Ward deprived the Imperialists of an 
able leader. The career of this man had been a strange one, 
but his success in training his men was endorsed by honorable 
dealings with the mandarins who had reported well of him at 
Peking. He was buried at Sung Kiang, where a shrine was 
erected to his memory and incense is burned before him to this 
day." 

It was difficult to find a successor, and the command was 
entrusted to his second, an American named Burgevine, who 
was accepted by the Chinese, but proved to be incapable. 
He was superseded by Holland and Cooke, Englishmen, and 
in April, 1863, the entire command was placed under Colonel 
Peter Gordon of the British army. 

"During the interval between May, 1860, when Ward took 
Sung Kiang, and April G, 1863, when Gordon took Fushan, the 
best manner of combining native and foreign troops was gradu- 
ally developed as they became more and more acquainted with 
each other and learned to respect discipline as an earnest of 
success. Such a motley force has seldom if ever been seen, 
and the enormous preponderance of Chinese troops would 
have perhaps been an element of danger had they been left idle 
for a long time. The bravery of the " Ever Victorious " force in 
the presence of the enemy had gradually won the confidence of 
the Allies, as well as the Chinese officials in whose pay it was; 
and when it operated in connection with the French and British 
contingent in driving the Tai-pings out of Ning Po prefecture, 
the real worth of Ward's drill was made manifest." 

General Gordon won a far greater fame in China than 
Frederick Townsend Ward, but the Salem soldier of fortune 
might have done much bigger things than the inscrutable fates 

467 



TJie Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

permitted if he had been suffered to live his allotted years. He 
was cut off in the flower of his youth, in the flush and glory of 
romantic success against the most desperate odds, and he had 
played the game of life astonishingly well. 

Until death overtook Ward at thirty his career singularly 
paralleled that of "Chinese" Gordon. Gordon served as a 
lieutenant in the Crimean War before he was twenty; next 
acquitted himself most ably on the Russo-Turkish frontier 
in Asia; began his career in China at the age of twenty- 
seven and had won his fame in the Tai-ping Rebellion at 
thirty. 

The Chinese tributes to Ward's memory were both eloquent 
and sincere, and as presented in official decrees make a unique 
tribute from an alien people, such as has been bestowed by 
China upon no other American. The death of Ward was con- 
veyed to the notice of the Emperor of China by Li Hung Chang, 
whose memorial read: 

"Li Hung Chang, Governor of Kiangse, on the 6th day of 
the intercalary 8th moon, in the first year of the reign Tungche, 
memorializes the Throne. ... It appears that Brigadier 
Ward is a citizen of New York, in the United States, who in 
the tenth year of the reign Hienfung came to China. After- 
wards he was employed by Wuhyu, Taotai of Shanghai, to take 
command of a contingent of men from India to follow the 
regular army in the attack on Kiating and Taet'sang, and twice 
to the capture of Sung Kiang, as well as to the repeated attack 
on Tsingpu, where, leading his officers and men, he was several 
times seriously wounded. Later, after the contingent of Indians 
had, by an Imperial decree, been dismissed. Ward petitioned 
the Tautai, stating that he was willing to become a Chinese 
subject; whereupon Wuhyu retained him and gave him com- 
mand of the Ever Victorious Army, to support the Imperial 
troops in the defence of Sung Kiang. 

468 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

"In the first moon of the present year Ward defeated, with 
500 troops, above 100,000 rebels at Yin-hai-pang, Tienmashan, 
and other places in the Prefecture of Sung Kiang. Thus with 
few he overcame the many; a meritorious deed that is very 
rare. Again he arranged for the destruction of the rebel forti- 
fications of Kau Keaou, Sian fang, Chow-pu, Nanking, Che- 
ling, Wang-keasze, and Lung-chuan, having the cooperation 
of British and French troops. From a petition of Wuhyu it 
appears that in the early part of spring of the present year, 
Sung Kiang and Shanghai were threatened by the rebels, and 
that the turning away of the danger and the maintenance of tran- 
quility in those places was chiefly due to the exertions of Ward. 

" By Imperial favor he was repeatedly promoted — from the 
fourth rank with the peacock's feather to the decorations of the 
third rank, again to the rank of titulary Futsiang, Brigadier, 
and again to Futsiang gazetted for employment in office; and 
praise was repeatedly bestowed on him by your Majesty's 
decree. From the time of the arrival of Your Majesty's Minis- 
ter, Li Hung Chang, at Shanghai, to take charge of afl^airs, this 
Futsiang Ward was in all respects obedient to the orders he 
received, and whether he received orders to harass the city of 
Kinshwanei or to force back the rebels at Linho, he was every- 
where successful. Still further, he bent all his energy on the 
recapture of Tsing-pu, and was absorbed in a plan for sweeping 
away the rebels from Soochan. Such loyalty and valor, issuing 
from his natural disposition, is extraordinary when compared 
with these virtues of the best officers of China; and among 
foreign officers it is not easy to find one worthy of equal honor. 

"Your Majesty's Minister, Li Hung Chang, has already 
ordered Wuhyu and others to deck Ward's body with a Chinese 
uniform, to provide good sepulture, and to bury him at Sung 
Kiang, in order to complete the recompense for his valiant 
defence of the dynasty. Brigadier Ward's military services at 

469 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Sung Kiang and Ning Po are conspicuous. At this time he 
lost his Hfe by a wound from a musket ball. We owe him our 
respect, and our deep regret. It is appropriate, therefore, to 
entreat that your Gracious Majesty do order the Board of Rites 
to take into consideration suitable posthumous rewards to be 
bestowed on him. Ward ; and that both at Ning Po and at Sung 
Kiang sacrificial altars be erected to appease the manes of this 
loyal man. 

"In addition to the communication made to the Tsungli 
Yamen, your memorialist, Li Hung Chang, consulted Tseng 
Kwo Fan, Governor General of the Two Kiang, and Tso- 
Tsung-Lang, Governor of Chehkiang, with regard to the recap- 
ture of Tsze Kee by the rebels, and their spying out the ap- 
proaches to the city of Ning Po; also with regard to the newly 
appointed acting Taotai of Ning Po, She Chengeh, putting this 
city in a state of defence, and the levying of contributions at 
Shanghai, to be forwarded to Ning Po; and further, with regard 
to Brigadier Ward's recapture from the rebels of Tsz Ki, 
where he perished from a wound by a musket ball, and for which 
reason Your Majesty is entreated to bestow on him posthumous 
honours; and finally, with regard to dispatching with all haste 
this memorial, and laying it before Your Majesty's Sacred 
Glance for approval and further instruction." 

With a promptness unusual in Oriental procedure, this 
memorial was followed in twelve days by the issue of an Im- 
perial Edict, of which the record obtained for the Essex Insti- 
tute at the Tsung-li- Yamen in Peking by the late Minister 
Conger, is as follows: 

"The following Imperial Rescript was received on the 18th 
day of the Intercalary Eighth Moon of the First Year of the 
Reign of Tung Chih. 

"Li Hung Chang in a memorial has acquainted Us of the 
death of Brigadier Ward, who perished from the effects of a 

470 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

bullet-wound received at the capture of Tsz-Ki, and has asked 
Our sanction for the building of a temple to him as a sincere 
expression of Our sorrow at his death. Ward was a native of 
the United States of America. Having desired to become a 
Chinese subject, and offered his Services to Us, he joined the 
Imperial Troops at Shanghai, and took Kading, Tai-Tsan, and 
Sung Kiang, and later defeated the rebels at Yin-hai-pang, 
Tien-ma-shan, and other parts, in the district of Sung Kiang. 
He also, in company with other foreign officers, destroyed the 
rebel fortifications at Kaou-Keaou and elsewhere. We, admir- 
ing his repeated victories, had been pleased to confer upon him 
special marks of Our favor, and to promote him to the rank of 
Futsiang gazetted for service. 

"According to the present memorial of Li Hung Chang, 
Ward having learned of the designs upon Ning Po of the Chi- 
Kiang rebels who were in possession of Tsz-Ki, at once advanced 
with the Ever Victorious Army to destroy them. While in 
person conducting the movements he was fatally wounded in 
the chest by a rebel bullet fired from the top of the city wall. 
The bullet came out through his back. It grew dark to the 
General instantly, and he fell. The City of Tsz-Ki was already 
taken by his Ever Victorious Army. Ward returned to Ning- 
Po, where he died of his wound the next day. 

"We have read the memorial, and feel that Brigadier Ward, 
a man of heroic disposition, a soldier without dishonor, deserves 
Our commendation and compassion. Li Hung Chang has 
already ordered Wu-Shi and others to attend to the proper 
rites of sepulture, and We now direct the two Prefects that 
special temples to his memory be built at Ning Po and Sung 
Kiang. Let this case still be submitted to the Board of Rites, 
who will propose to Us further honors so as to show our extraor- 
dinary consideration towards him, and also that his loyal spirit 
may rest in peace. This from the Emperor! Respect it!" 

471 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

On October 27, 1862, Minister Burlingame forwarded to 
Washington his official communication announcing Ward's 
death, which read as follows: 

" Legation of the United States, 
"Peking, Oct. 27, 1862. 

"Sir: It is my painful duty to inform you of the death of 
General Ward, an American, who had risen by his capacity 
and courage to the highest rank in the Chinese service. He 
was shot and mortally wounded while reconnoitering, before its 
capture, Tsz-Ki, a place near Ning-Po. The incidents attend- 
ing his wound and death please find in the edict of the Emperor. 

" General Ward was originally from Salem, Massachusetts, 
where he has relatives still living, and had seen service in 
Mexico, the Crimea, and, he was sorry to say, with the notorious 
Walker. 

" He fought countless battles, at the head of a Chinese force 
called into existence and trained by himself, and always with 
success. 

"Indeed, he taught the Chinese their strength, and laid the 
foundations of the only force with which their government can 
hope to defeat the rebellion. 

"Before General Ward died, when on board of her Majesty's 
steamer Hardy, he made his will, and named Admiral Sir James 
Hope and myself his executors. 

" In a letter communicating the fact to me, Sir James writes : 

"'I am sure you will be much grieved to hear of poor W^ard's 
death. 

" ' The Chinese government have lost a very able and gallant 
servant, who has rendered them much faithful service, and 
whom it will not be easy for them to replace.' 

" On account of my absence from Shanghai, I shall authorize 
our consul, George F. Seward, Esq., to act for me. 

472 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 



" General Ward was a man of great wealth, and in a letter to 
me the last probably he ever wrote, he proposed through me to 
contribute ten thousand taels to the government of the United 
States, to aid in maintaining the Union, but before I could 
respond to his patriotic letter he died. 

"Let this wish, though unexecuted, find worthy record in the 
archives of his native land, to show that neither self-exile nor 
foreign service, nor the incidents of a stormy life, could extin- 
guish from the breast of this wandering child of the republic 
the fires of a truly loyal heart. 

"After Ward's death, fearing that his force might dissolve 
and be lost to the cause of order, I hastened l)y express to inform 
the Chinese government of my desire that an American might 
be selected to fill his place, and was so fortunate, against con- 
siderable opposition, as to secure the appointment of Colonel 
Burgevine. 

"He had taken part, with Ward, in all the conflicts, and 
common fame spoke well of him. 

"Mr. Bruce, the British minister, as far as I know, did not 
antagonize me, and the gallant Sir James Hope favored the 
selection of Burgevine. Others did not. 

" I felt that it was no more than fair that an American should 
command the foreign-trained Chinese on land, as the English 
through Osborne, would command the same quality of force on 
sea. Do not understand by the above that in this, or in any 
case, I have pushed the American interests to the extent of 
any disagreement. On the contrary, by the avowal of an 
open and friendly policy, and proceeding on the declaration 
that the interests of the Western nations are identical, I have 
been met by the representatives of the other treaty powers 
in a corresponding spirit, and we are now working together 
in a sincere efl'ort to strengthen the cause of civilization in the 
East. 

473 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

" I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

"Anson Burlingame, 
"Hon. WilhamH. Seward, 

" Secretary of State, Washington/' 

The Imperial edict called forth from Secretary of State 
Seward this feeling response: 

"You will express to Prince Kung the President's sincere 
satisfaction with the honors which the Emperor of China has 
decreed to be paid to the memory of our distinguished fellow 
citizen. He fell while illustrating the fame of his country in an 
untried, distant, and perilous field. His too early death will, 
therefore, be deeply mourned by the American people." 

The whole correspondence was called for by the United 
States Senate, upon motion of Senator Sumner, and was duly 
transmitted under cover of a message from President Lincoln. 

Of the proposed memorial temples, one has been erected and 
was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on March 10, 1877. 
It is still guarded with religious care and is the scene of elaborate 
rites on each New Year's Day in February. 

The consecration of this temple was described in the North 
China Mail as follows: 

" The dedication of the Tsze t'ang, or Memorial Hall, recently 
erected by Feng, Taotai of Shanghai, at Sung Kiang in com- 
memoration of the late General Ward, of the "Ever Victorious 
Army," was performed on Saturday, with religious rites, in 
accordance with Chinese custom in such cases. The Taotai 
had, through the United States Consul-General, expressed his 
intention of conducting the ceremony himself, and requested 
that a limited number of invitations should be given to persons 
interested, to accomnany him. The Customs' cruiser 'Kwa- 
shing,' Captain Anderson, was prepared to convey His Ex- 
cellency and his guests, and seven a. m. was the hour fixed to 

474 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

commence the trip up the river Hwangpoo. Precisely at that 
time there were assembled at the Custom House jetty Consul 
General Myers, Dr. Yates, Dr. Macgowan, Dr. Kreyer; Mr. 
P. G. von Mollendorff of the German Consulate, the Hon. H. N. 
Shore, of H. M. S. Lapwing, Captain Ditmar, of the German 
corvette Louise, Mr. C. Deighton-Braysher and a few others, 
but the start was not made until about 8.10 in consequence of 
the non-arrival of the Taotai before that hour. By the time 
breakfast was over, the vessel had sped considerably beyond 
the well-known Seven-mile Reach; and presently Ming-hong 
was sighted, nearly opposite to which is the creek leading to 
Nai-jow, the scene of the fight in which the French Admiral 
Protet, to whose memory a statue stands in the compound of 
the French Municipal Hall, received his death wound. The 
reaches of the river beyond this place were new to all on board 
except Mr. Deighton-Braysher, who kindly undertook to pilot 
the vessel from Ming-hong to the mouth of the Sung Kiang 
Creek; and he also lightened the tedium of the voyage by 
pointing out and describing the scenes of greatest interest in 
connection with the Taiping rebellion, this part of the country 
having been overrun by the rebels. Feck-shung was next 
reached, opposite to which is the creek up which H. B. M.'s 
gunboat Stirling was navigated to attack the stronghold known 
as Yeh-sieh, which she quickly demolished. 

" There not being sufficient depth of water in the Sung Kiang 
creek to float the Kwashing, she was anchored ofl^ its mouth, 
and some Chinese houseboats and a couple of steam launches, 
provided by the Taotai's directions, were brought alongside. 
The passengers being trans-shipped to the houseboats, were soon 
spinning up the creek, towed by one of the steam launches, the 
distance to the city of Sung Kiang, from the river, being about 
four miles. The creek becomes very narrow as the city is 
neared, and is spanned not far from the walls by one of those 

475 



The ShijJS a^id Sailors of Old Salem 

light-looking, picturesque stone bridges for the construction of 
which the Chinese are famous. Here, on both banks, the 
people had assembled in large numbers, and it soon became 
evident that the sight of so many foreigners together was a 
novelty to them, and the Taotai's bodyguard were useful in 
clearing a way along the bank to where some dozen or so of 
sedans with bearers were in waiting for the guests. The Taotai 
and others having taken their seats, the procession moved off 
amid the banging of crackers and bombs, and the animated 
gesticulations of the people, numbers of whom kept up with it 
to the scene of the day's ceremony. The way led along a narrow 
road through the suburbs, skirting the wall of the city, until the 
gate was reached through which the city was entered. A wide 
expanse of unoccupied ground had first to be crossed, which 
before the rebellion was covered with houses. Here and there 
ruins of houses are still to be seen, but the greater part of the 
waste is scattered over with grass-grown mounds and heaps of 
refuse, presenting a dreary aspect. The way next led along the 
bank of a small creek and past the yamen of some military 
mandarin, a large and peculiar building, or rather series of 
buildings, having all the appearance of huge cages, each being 
enclosed with very lofty rail fencing, and differing in several 
respects from the architecture of any official residence in the 
vicinity of Shanghai. Several unpretentious-looking pilaus 
were also passed enroute, and in the distance, to the right, a 
lofty pagoda was visible. The Memorial Hall was at length 
reached, surrounded by a low wall of considerable extent, and 
entered by a gateway in the usual joss-house style. 

" Turning sharply to the right after leaving the gateway, the 
main building is at once seen to be very similar in construction 
to the open hall facing the entrance to the Mixed Court in the 
Maloo. Immediately opposite the open front stands the shrine 
containing the memorial tablet of the deceased General; blue 

476 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

in colour with the inscription in gold. Facing this are two small 
square tower-like structures, on which are other inscriptions 
testifying to the merits of the deceased and stating that the 
Memorial Hall was erected by Feng Taotai, by Imperial com- 
mand. Passing round the back of the shrine, a large square 
space is reached, in the centre of which is the grave-mound 
beneath which are the deceased's remains and also the stone 
that used to mark the site of the grave. The surrounding space 
is thickly planted with young trees and shrubs. 

" At the Hall the Taotai, on alighting from his chair, was met 
and greeted by the magistrate of the district of Sung Kiang. 
A number of other officials of lesser grade were present; and 
numerous soldiers, in addition to the Taotai's bodyguard 
thronged the compound. The greetings over, the Taotai led 
the way to the shrine, and both he and the other dignitaries then 
donned their official robes. Although it was broad daylight, 
twelve lighted lamps were suspended from the roof, eight in one 
row and one at each of the four corners of the shrine. Besides 
these, there were four large red wax candles burning, and incense 
sticks smouldering. The ceremony being one of sacrifice there 
were offered to the manes of the deceased the entire carcass of 
a goat, a large pig, a small roasted pig, a ham, seven pairs of 
ducks, pairs of fowls, etc., and about twenty dishes of fruits, 
confectionery, and vegetables, these being also in pairs. 

"The Taotai and the two district magistrates being fully 
attired, they advanced to the front of the shrine, and in obedience 
to the direction of a sort of master of the ceremonies the Taotai 
commenced the oblation by offering several small cups of wine, 
which were deposited on a shelf in front of the tablet. Then, 
all three kneeling, the Taotai stretched forth his hand towards 
the tablet, and offered the food, the mandarins subsequently 
bowing their heads nine times to the ground. A little music 
was also played, and the ceremony, which scarcely occupied 

477 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

twenty minutes, was concluded by loud discharges of fireworks 
and the crash of gongs. It cannot be said to have been im- 
pressive, though its novelty and picturesqueness were beyond 
dispute; but it was interesting from the fact of its being intended 
to honour the memory of a foreigner, and including precisely 
the same observance awarded in the case of high Chinese 
officials. 

"At the conclusion of the ceremony, the whole of the food 
offerings were packed away in boxes, slung on poles, and taken 
back to the ship, thence to be re-conveyed to the Taotai's 
yamen. 

" There was no speaking either at the grave or in the Temple, 
except by Dr. Macgowan, who as a private citizen said a few 
words to the Taotai in Chinese, apropos of the occasion, and, 
after three photographic negatives of the scene in and around 
the Temple had been taken, haste was made for the return trip 
in order to reach home before dark. 

" On the return passage down the creek, the Taotai read from 
a paper he held in his hand, the following statement, which was 
translated as he proceeded by Dr. Kreyer: ' I remember reading 
the rescript in the Peking Gazette of how the late Emperor 
regretted General Ward's death. At that time I was only a 
Chuyen (recipient of a second-class literary degree), and did not 
know I should ever be Taotai of Shanghai and live to take part 
in the dedication of a temple to Ward's memory. When Ward 
came to China it was thought in this district that the whole 
country had been lost to the rebels— that, in fact, it could not be 
recovered. But owing to the exertions of Ward, the rebels 
were defeated and the country saved. The cities and places 
that were captured were Kading, Tai-Tsan, Sung Kiang, 
Ming-liu-ping, Tien-mashan, Kau Shan, Sian T'ang, Chow- 
pu, Che-ling, Wang Keasze, Lung-chau — all these being 
retaken by Ward before Li Hung Chang came on the scene. 

478 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

After Li came into these districts Ward re-took Kinshan-wei, 
Liu Ho, Tsing-pu, and Tsz' Kzi. The greatest credit was 
therefore due to General Ward, as nearly all those places were 
re-captured by him long before Li Hung Chang came here. The 
name of General Ward was such a terror that whenever the 
rebels heard that he was coming they ran away without fighting. 
General Ward's idea was to go straight on to Soo-chow, and 
re-take that city; but before going there he marched to Ning 
Po, and at Tsz Ki, a little town about fifteen miles distant from 
Ning Po, he was shot by the enemy. His Chinese clothes were 
changed for foreign ones at Ning Po, where he died, his body 
being brought to Sung Kiang for burial. The Imperial intention 
is to build two large temples to his memory— one at Sung Kiang 
and the other at Tsz Ki, where he received his death wound, 
and in each of which his statue will be placed. All this is 
intended to be in accordance with Li Hung Chang's petition to 
the Throne, and with the Imperial rescript, issued in the first 
year of Tsung-chi, 8th moon, 18th day.' In conclusion, the 
Taotai said, in answer to a question by Mr. Consul-General 
Myers, that the sole credit of Shanghai not having been taken 
by the rebels was due to General Ward. It was also explained 
that the present small temple at Sung Kiang was only a tem- 
porary structure, and would be replaced as soon as possible by 
a large and permanent one." 

" The two inscriptions on columns at the right and left of the 
entrance to the shrine have been thus rendered into English: 

" A wonderful hero from beyond the seas, the fame of whose 
deserving loyalty reaches round the world, has sprinkled China 
with his azure blood." 

" A happy seat among the clouds," (the ancient name of Sung 
Kiang means ' among the clouds ') " and Temples standing for a 
thousand Springs, make known to all his faithful heart." 

Arthur D. Coulter, an American mining engineer, recently 

479 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

visited the temple and shrine of Frederick Townsend Ward and 
described the scene as follows: 

" Toward the eastern end of the walled city stands one of the 
most beautiful pagodas to be found anywhere in the Orient. 
It is perfectly preserved, and overlooks the country for many 
miles. Passing toward the eastern gate and crossing the mouth 
of the canal which follows the city wall by an arched bridge — 
one of those typical stone bridges, finely cut and very old, which 
span the canal — the way leads toward the military grounds, at 
the present time occupied by a considerable force of Chinese 
soldiers, and it is in the vicinity of this fort that Ward's resting- 
place is located and where his shrine is built. The place seems 
to have been fittingly selected by the Chinese to give a military 
setting to this memorial of their military saviour. A wide path 
along the bank of the canal leads by the beautiful bamboo 
groves a distance of about three hundred yards from the walled 
city to the soldiers' compound. The temple proper is situated 
within a hundred feet of the outer walls of the fort. It is built on 
a plot of ground which has been maintained as an open park. 
In accordance with the Chinese idea of filial piety a grave must 
be maintained above ground. In almost all instances among 
the better classes the receiving vaults are built of brick or stone 
and covered with tiling, and these are maintained for many 
years, the obligation being handed down from father to son. 

"The temple compound which has been dedicated to Ward 
stands within four walls built of brick. These walls are about 
ten feet in height and well preserved. The area is about one 
hundred feet square. At the main entrance of the compound 
is built the caretaker's house. He, with his wife and family, 
are maintained by the Chinese Government as they have been 
since the building of the shrine. Immediately after passing 
through the caretaker's rooms, one comes into an open court- 
yard facing the temple proper, which is built across the middle 

480 



General Frederick Townsend Ward 

of the hollow square formed by the enclosure walls. Entrance 
to the temple proper is through three doors, which, when 
open, leave the shrine or altar exposed to view from the outside. 
This is in accordance with the prevailing arrangement of temples 
throughout the Empire. 

"The altar stands about ten feet removed from the door 
which it faces, and is about six feet wide by ten feet high. 
Across from this altar is a space paved with brick throughout, 
in a very good state of preservation and well kept. The most 
important decorations are the tablet and the writing in Chinese 
which adorn the sides and top of the altar. On the top of the 
altar may be seen the braziers for the burning of joss and incense 
by the Taos priests. The attendance upon the temple by the 
Mandarins and Officials of Mandatories from the Chinese Gov- 
ernment has been maintained since the building of the shrine. 
They are commanded to appear there during each month for 
worship. Immediately behind is a door leading out to what 
may be correctly termed the graveyard. This is an open space 
surrounded on the one side by the walls of the temple and on the 
other three sides by the walls of the compound already described. 
In the central background, away from the temple, is located the 
mound where Ward's remains were placed. Behind this 
mound, and on both sides, extending out to the side walls, the 
ground is covered with a thick growth of young bamboo trees, 
making a very beautiful setting for the grave. 

"The memory of Ward is held sacred to this day by those 
with whom or with whose fathers he was closely associated. 
He had endeared himself to the Taotai and the Chinese people 
principally through his military career and his more personal 
relations with Shanghai. The full significance of Ward's 
martyrdom for the Chinese people has not been forgotten to 
this day by this class of Chinese." 

481 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE EBBING OF THE TIDE 



WHEN the Embargo of 1807 was proclaimed as a 
counter-blow to England's "unoiBBcial war on 
American commerce and her wholesale impress- 
ment of American seamen," the house-flags of Salem merchants 
flew over one hundred and fifty-two vessels engaged in foreign 
trade. The Embargo fell with blighting effects upon this 
imposing fleet and the allied activities interwoven throughout 
the life and business of the town, and the square-riggers lay 
empty and idle at the wharves. In 1808 the foreign commerce 
of the United States decreased from $246,000,000 to $79,000,000, 
and a British visitor, writing of New York, described what 
might have been seen in Salem: 

" The port indeed was full of ships, but they were dismantled 
and laid up; their decks were cleared, their hatches fastened 
down, and scarcely a sailor was to be found on board. Not a 
box, bale, cask, barrel, or package was to be seen upon the 
wharves. Many of the counting houses were shut up or adver- 
tised to be let, and the few solitary merchants, clerks and 
porters, and laborers that were to be seen, were walking about 
with their hands in their pockets. The coffee houses were 
almost empty; the streets near the waterside were almost 
deserted; the grass had begun to grow upon the wharves." 

The Embargo was removed in the spring of 1809 and Yankee 
ships hastened to spread their white wings on every sea. Salem 
merchants loaded their vessels with merchandise and dispatched 

482 



The Ebbing of the Tide 



them to skim the cream of the European market. It was out 
of the frying-pan into the fire, however, for Napoleon had set a 
wicked trap for these argosies and so ordered it that all American 
shipping found in the ports of France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, 
Prussia and Norway was confiscated and plundered under 
flimsy pretext of violations of paper blockades, and what not, 
of which these unsuspecting American shipmasters were wholly 
unaware. Thiers states that Napoleon wrote to the Prussian 
Government : 

"Let the American ships enter your ports. Sieze them 
afterwards. You shall deliver the cargoes to me, and I will take 
them in part payment of the Prussian war debt." 

John Quincy Adams declared that fifty American vessels 
were thus taken in Norway and Denmark. In 1809-10, fifty- 
one of our ships were seized in the ports of France, forty-four 
in the ports of Spain, twenty-eight in Naples, and eleven in 
Holland, with a total loss to helpless American owners of at 
least ten million dollars. Felt's Annals of Salem states that 
"on the 19th of August (1809), the ship Francis, Capt. William 
Haskell, arrives. She was purchased of the Neapolitan govern- 
ment by our consul there, to bring home the crews of Ameri- 
can vessels confiscated by their order. Two hundred and 
fourteen persons came in her, many of whom belonged to 
this town. Their treatment is said to have been very cruel. 
The amount of Salem vessels and their cargoes condemned at 
Naples was 783,000 dollars." 

The stout-hearted merchants of Salem rallied bravely and 
when the War of 1812 began, they owned one hundred and 
twenty-six ships, fifty-eight of them East Indiamen. The war 
played havoc with this fleet, notwithstanding the activity of 
Salem privateers, and in 1815, there were left only fifty-seven of 
these ships in foreign commerce, a loss of a hundred sail in seven 
years. The tide had begun to ebb, the golden age was waning, 

483 



TJie Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

and yet in 1816 the Salem Custom House cleared forty-two 
square-riggers for the East Indies and other ports of the Orient. 
But the pioneering, path-finding era was almost over, except for 
ventures to the South Seas, Madagascar, and some of the ports of 
Africa and South America. The trade with the Orient in which 
Salem ships had blazed the way was now shared with the ships 
of other American ports. 

The richest decade in this picturesque and adventurous 
traffic with the coasts and islands of strange, far-distant climes 
had been from 1800 to 1810, during which the duties paid on 
foreign cargoes amounted to $7,272,633, and the entries num- 
bered 1,758, or an average of almost three ships a day signalling 
their home-coming from beyond seas. 

During the years from 1820 to 1840 Salem continued to hold 
fast to her foreign trade, although overshadowed by Boston, 
and the old warehouses on the wharves were filled with the 
products of Zanzibar, Sumatra, Calcutta, Manila, Leghorn, the 
Rio Grande, Cayenne, Siam, Ceylon, and the Gold Coast. 
In 1850 the beginning of the end was in sight, and the " foreign 
entries" from Nova Scotia far outnumbered those from all the 
other ports in which the natives had once believed the map of 
America to consist chiefly of a vast commercial metropolis 
called Salem. The end of the history of the port, except for 
coastwise trade may be read in the Custom House records, as 
follows : 

"In 1860 the foreign entries were: from Nova Scotia 215, 
Java, 7, Africa 25, Cayenne 10, Montevideo 2, Zanzibar 4, 
Surinam 2, Rio Grande 2, Buenos Ayres 2, and one each from 
Mozambique, Shields, Sunderland, Port Praya, Newcastle and 
Trapani. 

"In 1870 the foreign entries were: from the British provinces 
117, Cayenne, 3, Newcastle 2, and one each from Zanzibar, 
Rio Grande, Cape Verde Islands, and Sunderland. 

484 



The Ebbing of the Tide 



" In 1878 the foreign entries were: from the British Provinces 
53, and none from any other ports." 

Although in these latter days the romances of shipping had 
somewhat departed, yet now and then a Salem square-rigger 
brought home a tale to remind the old salts of the thrilling days 
of yore. There was the Sumatra, for example. Captain Peter 
Silver, which came from Batavia in 1842. While at sea she fell 
in with a bark which flew signals of distress yet appeared to be in 
good order below and aloft. There was no crew on deck, how- 
ever, no living soul to be seen except a woman who implored help 
with frantic gestures. Running down close. Captain Silver 
made out the vessel to be the Kilmars of Glasgow, and he sent a 
boat aboard to pick off the lone woman. She proved to be a girl, 
only eighteen years old, wife of the master of the bark, almost 
out of her wits with hysteria and exhaustion. She said that 
the Kilmars had sailed from Batavia two months previously 
with a cargo of sugar for Europe. The crew, shipped in the 
Dutch East Indies, were a desperate and unruly lot of beach- 
combers, several of them released convicts. 

A few days before the Sumatra came in sight, the captain of 
the Scotch bark had discovered that his crew was planning 
mutiny and were about to make their attack and gain possession 
of the vessel after ridding themselves of the officers. This 
captain was a man of the right mettle, for he promptly picked 
out the ringleader, charged him with the conspiracy, and after 
a brisk encounter shot him with a pistol, and removed him 
from the scene for the time. The mates were suspected of 
disaffection and the captain succeeded in locking them in the 
after cabin, after which he sailed into his crew, drove all hands 
below and fastened the hatches over them. The decks being 
cleared in this most gallant fashion, the captain, with the help of 
two boys undertook to navigate the bark back to Batavia. 

This proved to be a bigger undertaking than he could handle, 

485 



The SJiips and Sailors of Old Salem 

and while passing in sight of land, the captain decided to go 
ashore in a boat with the two boys and find help, the weather 
being calm and the mutineers securely bottled up below. He 
expected to be gone no more than a few hours, but the day 
passed, night came down, and his boat was missing. The 
young wife was alone, distraught and helpless, and she took 
her stand by the rail, determined to throw herself overboard if 
the mutineers should regain the deck. Next morning she 
siffhted the Sumatra and was saved. But while the crew of the 
Sumatra was making sail to resume the voyage, no more than 
a few minutes after the boat had fetched the girl on board, the 
ruffians confined on the bark broke out from their prison, 
swarmed on deck, and took possession of their bark. 

Captain Peter Silver of the Sumatra was not disposed to give 
them a battle, and they got the Kilmars under way and steered 
off on a course of their own. Upon reaching Batavia Captain 
Silver landed the young wife and gave her in charge of the 
Dutch officials who took care of her with sympathetic hospitality 
and sent her home to her kinfolk in Scotland. Sometime later 
the Kilmars entered the port of Angier where the mutineers 
were promptly captured and tried, and the bark was returned 
to her owners. 

The captain of the Kilmars and the two boys were picked up 
adrift in the Straits of Sunda, and it was discovered that be had 
become insane from overwork and anxiety which explained 
why he had abandoned his wife and set off to find help on a 
strange coast. He was later restored to health and it is pre- 
sumed that this plucky shipmaster, his girl wife and his bark 
were safely reunited after being parted from one another under 
these very extraordinary circumstances. 

It is a coincidence worth noting that the first commanding 
figure in the maritime history of Salem, Philip English, was 
born in the Isle of Jersey, and that John Bertram, the last of 

486 



^H&€«'=^' 




From thr oil pnintint.' "dv Eilgur P:irker 



C;i])t;iiii Jolin IJcrtram 



The Ebbitig of the Tide 



the race of great shipping merchants of the port hailed from 
the same island. Two centuries intervened between their 
careers, John Bertram living until 1882, and witnessing the 
passing of the foreign commerce of Salem and the coming of 
the age of steam upon the high seas. As a young man he saw 
an average of a hundred square-rigged ships a year come home 
to Salem from the Orient, Africa, South America, Europe and 
the South Sea Islands. In his latter years he saw this noble 
commerce dwindle and American seamen vanish until in 1870 
the bark Glide from Zanzibar recorded the last entry in the 
Salem Custom House of a vessel from beyond the Cape of Good 
Hope, and, in 1877, the Schooner Mattie F. crept in from 
South America as the last vessel to fetch home a cargo from 
anywhere overseas. The Manila trade had become a memory 
in 1858, the farewell voyage to Sumatra was made in 1800. 
Until the end of the century Salem shipowners were interested 
in the trade with the Philippines and other distant ports, but 
their vessels departed from and came back to Boston.* The 
Salem firm of Silsbee, Pickman and Allen built a fleet of fast 
and noble ships for the hemp trade, among them the Sooloo, 
Panay and Mindoro, but they never knew their own port, and 
in 1896 the last of this fleet, the Mindoro, was towed to Derby 
Wharf in Salem harbor to rot in idleness until she was cut 
down to a coal barge. 

John Bertram deserved to be classed with the older generation 
of Elias Hasket Derby and Joseph Peabody, because he pos- 
sessed the same high qualities of foresight, daring and sagacity, 
a type of the militant leader of commerce on the firing line of 

* "July 1, 1833. Nearly half our commercial capital is employed in other 

forts. During the past year there sailed from Salem 14 ships, 10 of them for 
ndia, 2 on whaling voyages to the Pacific; 5 barks, 4 of which for India; 94 
brigs, 14 of them for India; and 23 schooners. Fourteen ships, 6 barks, 27 
brigs and 6 schooners belonging to this place sailed from other ports on foreign 
voyages." (Felt's Annals of Salem.) 

487 



The Ships and Sailoi's oj Old Salem 

civilization. Like theirs, his was a splendid American spirit 
which created, builded, and won its rewards by virtue of native 
ability inspired and impelled by the genius of its time and. 
place. He was in a privateer in the War of 1812, and lived to 
see his country's flag almost vanish from blue water, its superb 
merchant marine dwindle to almost nothing, but while it was 
in its glory he played well his part in carrying the stars and 
stripes, over his own ships, wherever the mariners of other 
nations went to seek commerce. This John Bertram came to 
Salem in his boyhood and in 1813 was sailing out of Boston as a 
cabin boy in the schooner Monkey. A little later shipping out 
of Charleston in a privateer, he was taken prisoner and confined 
in British prison ships at Bermuda and Barbadoes. Having 
learned to speak French in his early years on the Isle of Jersey 
he persuaded his captors that he was a French subject and was 
released but was again captured and carried off to England 
while homeward bound to Salem. His was the usual story of 
lads with brains and ambition in that era, at first a sailor 
and shipmaster, then an owner of vessels and a merchant on 
shore. 

John Bertram served a long apprenticeship before he forsook 
the quarterdeck. In 1824 he sailed for St. Helena in the char- 
tered schooner General Brewer, and when a few days at sea over 
hauled the Salem brig Elizabeth, Captain Story, also headed for 
St. Helena. Commerce was a picturesque speculation then, 
and each of these skippers was eager to make port first with his 
cargo and snatch the market away from his rival. 

The weather was calm, the wind was light, and Captain 
Bertram invited Captain Story to come on board and have a 
cup of tea, or something stronger. The skippers twain sat on 
deck and eyed each other while they yarned, each assuring the 
other that he was bound to Pernambuco. St. Helena? Non- 
sense! Captain Story was rowed back to his brig, the two 

488 



The Ebbing of the Tide 



vessels made sail and jogged on their course. When nightfall 
came, however, John Bertram threw his whole deck load of 
lumber overboard in order to lighten his schooner and put her 
in her best trim for sailing, cracked on all the canvas he could 
carry, and let her drive for St. Helena as if the devil were after 
him. He beat the Elizabeth to port so handsomely that his 
cargo had been sold at fancy prices and he was standing out of 
the harbor, homeward bound when the brig came creeping in 
with a very long-faced Captain Story striding her poop. 

Soon after this Captain Bertram determined to go after a 
share of the South American trade, and after a voyage to the 
Cape of Good Hope in the Velocity, he carried her to the Rio 
Grande and the Coast of Patagonia to trade in hides. He went 
ashore, leaving Captain W. B. Smith to pick up hides during 
short coastwise voyages, and finding the adventures prosperous, 
bought a Salem brig at Pernambuco and kept both vessels busy. 
For three years Captain Bertram lived on the coast of Patagonia 
directing the operations of his little fleet and taking this exile 
as a routine part of the education of an American shipping 
merchant. 

After his return to Salem his activities were shifted to Zanzibar 
where the American flag was almost unknown. Madagascar 
had been opened to American trade in 1821 by the Salem brig 
Beulah on her way home from Mocha. Zanzibar was a small 
settlement with no foreign trade, gum-copal, the principal staple 
product, being carried to India in the Sultan's vessels. In 1826 
the Salem brig Ann called at Zanzibar and showed the natives 
the first American flag they had ever seen, but no attempt was 
made to establish commerce with the port until John Bertram 
set sail in the Black Warrior in 1830. He scented a pioneering 
voyage with gum-copal as the prize, an import in great demand 
by makers of varnish and up to that time imported by way of 
India at great cost. When the Black Warrior arrived at Zanzi- 

489 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

bar the Sultan was on the point of dispatching a vessel loaded 
with the coveted gum-copal to India, but this typical Salem 
navigator would not let such a chance slip through his fingers. 
He boarded the Sultan and made him an offer in shining silver 
dollars for the cargo, and the dazzled potentate set his slaves 
at work to transfer the cargo to the hold of the Black Warrior. 

Thence John Bertram sailed home, and sold his gum-copal 
for a handsome profit. Other ships followed in his wake and 
for many years the Zanzibar trade in gum-copal was chiefly 
carried on in ships out of Salem which controlled the supply of 
this commodity as it had won and held the pepper trade with 
Sumatra and the coffee trade with Mocha during an earlier 
generation. 

When the news of the California gold discoveries swept the 
East like wildfire in 1848, John Bertram was one of the first 
shipowners to grasp the possibilities of the trade around Cape 
Horn to San Francisco. Before the end of 1848 he had sent out 
a ship to carry the advance guards of the argonauts. This 
bark Eliza cleared from Derby Wharf in December with 
assorted cargo and passengers, and was cheered by an excited 
crowd which swarmed among the East India warehouses and 
listened to the departing gold-seekers sing in lusty chorus the 
"California Song" which later became the favorite ditty of 
many a ship's company bound round the Horn. It ran to the 
tune of "Oh! Susannah" and carried such sentiments as these: 

"I come from Salem City 
With my wash-bowl on my knee; 
I'm going to California 
The gold dust for to see. 
It rained all day the day I left. 
The weather it was dry; 
The sun so hot I froze to death. 
Oh, brother, don't you cry. 
490 



The Ehhmg of the Tide 



CHORUS 

Oh, California; 

That's the land for me, 

I'm going to California 

With my wash-bowl on my knee.* 

For this roaring California trade John Bertram and his 
partners built a famous American clipper, the John Bertram, of 
eleven hundred tons, at East Boston. The remarkable feature 
of this undertaking was that the ship was launched sixty days 
after the laying of her keel and ninety days from the time the 
workmen first laid tools to the timbers she was sailing out of 
Boston harbor with a full cargo, bound to San Francisco. The 
John Bertram was a staunch, able, and splendidly built ship, 
notwithstanding this feat of record-breaking construction. 
Thirty years after her maiden voyage she was still afloat in the 
deep-water trade, although under a foreign flag, a fine memorial 
of the skill and honesty of New England shipbuilders. 

After winning a handsome fortune in his shipping enterprises 
John Bertram had foresight and wisdom to perceive that Ameri- 
can ships in foreign trade were doomed to make a losing fight. 
Their day was past. He turned his energies into other and 
more profitable channels, and keeping pace with the march of 
the times, engaged in railroad development and manufacturing 
enterprises, a shipping merchant of the old school who adapted 
himself to new conditions with a large measure of success. 

* Captain John H. Eagleston took the brigantine Mary and Ellen out to 
California two months ahead of the Eliza, in October, 1848, loading with a 
general cargo to sell to the gold-seekers. While at San Francisco in June, 1849, 
he met the Eliza, and later wrote, in an account of the voyage: 

"On board the Eliza there were quite a number of passengers. Several of 
these remaining in San Francisco, pitched their tent in Happy Valley where 
Mr. Jonathan Nichols, stored as he was with fun and song, assisted by his 
social and free-hearted companions, made their quarters at all times inviting 
and pleasant. I was often with them, and under the beautiful evening sky, the 
echoes of good singing pleased the squatters that composed the little beehive 
villages which dotted the valley, especially ' The Washbowl on my Knee,' which 
was the usual wind-up." 

491 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

Much of his fortune he gave to benefit his town of Salem in 
which his extensive philanthropies keep his memory green. 

In 1869, Robert S. Rantoul of Salem, while writing of the 
town's maritime history made this brave attempt to convince 
himself that her glory had not yet departed : 

"While our packets ply to New York and our steam tug 
puffs and screams about the harbor; while marine railways are 
busy and shipyards launch bigger merchantmen than ever; 
while coal comes in upwards of four hundred colliers yearly, 
and our boarding officers report more than fifteen hundred 
arrivals, * while our fishing fleets go forth, and our whalers still 
cruise the waters of the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific, 
while we turn over $100,000 to $125,000 per year to the Federal 
Treasury from import duties and enter a large part of the dates, 
gum, spices, ivory, ebony and sheepskins brought into this 
country, it is no time yet to despair of this most ancient seaport 
of the United States of America." 

This was in a way, a swan-song for the death of Salem 
romance. The one steam tug which "screamed about the 
harbor," was the forerunner of a host of her kind which should 
trouble the landlocked harbor that once swarmed with priva- 
teers and East Indiamen. The coal barge and the coasting 
schooner were henceforth to huddle in sight of crumbling 
Derby Wharf, and the fluttering drone of the spindles in the 
cotton mill to be heard along the waterfront where the decks 
of the stately square-riggers had echoed to the roaring chanties 
of "Whiskey Johnny," "Blow the Man Down," and "We're 
Off for the Rio Grande." 

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote an epitaph of Salem as a deep- 
water seaport, and thus it appeared to him, the greatest of its 
children, as he viewed it sixty years ago: 

"In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a 

* Coastwise schooners and vessels from the Canadian provinces. 
492 



The Ebbing of the Tide 



century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling 
wharf, but which is now burdened with decayed wooden ware- 
houses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life; 
except, perhaps, a bark or brig, half way down its melancholy 
length, discharging hides; or, nearer at hand, a Nova Scotia 
schooner pitching out her cargo of firewood — at the head, I say, 
of this dilapidated wharf, which the tide often overflows, and 
along which, at the base and in the rear of the row of buildings, 
the track of many languid years is seen in a border of unthrifty 
grass — here, with a view from its front windows adown the not 
very enlivening prospect, and thence across the harbor, stands 
a spacious edifice of brick. . . . 

"The pavement round about the above-described edifice — 
which we may as well name at once as the Custom House of 
the port — has grass enough growing in its chinks to show that 
it has not, of late days, been worn by any multitudinous resort 
of business. In some months of the year, however, there often 
chances a forenoon when afl^airs move onward with a livelier 
tread. Such occasions might remind the elderly citizen of 
that period before the last war with England, when Salem was 
a port by itself; not scorned, as she is now, by her own merchants 
and ship-owners, who permit her wharves to crumble to ruin, 
while their ventures go to swell, needlessly and imperceptibly, 
the mighty flood of commerce at New York or Boston. On 
some such morning, when three or four vessels happen to have 
arrived at once — usually from Africa or South America — or to 
be on the verge of their departure thitherward, there is a sound 
of frequent feet, passing briskly up and down the granite steps. 
Here before his own wife has greeted him, you may greet the 
sea-flushed shipmaster, just in port, with his vessel's papers 
under his arm in a tarnished tin box. Here, too, comes his 
owner, cheerful or somber, gracious or in the sulks, accordingly 
as his scheme of the now accomplished voyage has been realized 

493 



The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem 

in merchandise that will readily be turned into gold, or has 
buried him under a bulk of commodities such as nobody will 
care to rid him of. . . ." 

It is unmanly to mourn over old, dead days as better than 
the present times, to say that men were stronger, simpler, braver 
in the beginning of this Republic. Every age or generation, 
however, hammers out in the stress of its day's work some 
refined metal of experience, some peculiarly significant heritage 
to help posterity in its struggle to perpetuate the things most 
worth while. It was not the rich freightage of silks, spices, 
ivory and tea which the ships of Salem fetched home, nor the 
fortunes which built the stately mansions of the elm-shaded 
streets, that made this race of seamen worthy of a page in the 
history of their country's rise to greatness. They did their 
duty, daringly and cheerfully, in peace and in war. They let 
their deeds speak for them, and they bore themselves as "gentle- 
men unafraid," in adversity and with manly modesty in pros- 
perity. They believed in their country and they fought for 
her rights, without swashbuckling or empty words. They 
helped one another, and their community worked hand in hand 
with them, on honor, to insure the safety of their perilous 
ventures. The men who wove the duck, the sailmakers who 
fashioned it to bend to the yards, the blacksmith, the rigger, the 
carpenter, and the instrument-maker did honest work, all co- 
operating to build and fit the ship their neighbor was to command 
so that she might weather the hardest blow and do credit to 
those who made and sailed her. 

Every shipmaster had as good a chance as any other to win a 
fortune. Independence, self-reliance, initiative and ambition 
were fostered. It was clean-handed competition, aggressive, 
but with a fair chance for all. Whether it was the Atlantic 
daring to show American colors to the East India Company in 
Calcutta in 1788, or the Endeavor, with Captain David Elwell 

494 



u 




I 



I ft- 



The Ebbing of the Tide 



on her quarterdeck making the first passage of an American 
ship through the Straits of Magellan in 1824, or the Margaret 
at anchor in Nagasaki harbor half a century before another 
American vessel visited a port of Japan, these adventurers of 
commerce were red-blooded frontiersmen of blue water, as 
truly and thoroughly American in spirit and ambition as the 
strong men who pushed into the western wilderness to carve out 
new empire for their countrymen. 

Judged by the standards of this age, these seamen had their 
faults. They saw no great wrong in taking cargoes of New 
England rum to poison the black tribes of Africa, and the 
schooner Sally and Polly of Salem was winging it to Senegal 
as early as 1789. Rum, gunpowder and tobacco outbound, 
hides, palm oil, gold dust and ivory homeward, were staples of 
a busy commerce until late into the last century. But the 
pioneering trade to the Orient, which was the glory of the port, 
was free from the stain of debasing the natives for gain. 

Salem is proud of its past, but mightily interested in its 
present. Its population is four times as great as when it was 
the foremost foreign seaport of the United States and its activities 
have veered into manufacturing channels. But as has hap- 
pened to many other New England cities of the purest American 
pedigree, a flood of immigration from Europe and Canada has 
swept into Salem to swarm in its mills and factories. Along the 
harbor front the fine old square mansions from which the lords 
of the shipping gazed down at their teeming wharves are ten- 
anted by toilers of many alien nations. But the stately, pillared 
Custom House, alas, no more than a memorial of vanished 
greatness, stands at the head of Derby Wharf to remind the 
passer-by, not only of its immortal surveyor, Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne, but also of an age of which the civic seal of Salem bears 
witness in its motto, " Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinuvi ' 
(To the farthest port of the rich East.) 

495 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

LISTS OF THE PRIVATE ARMED SHIPS OF SALEM IN THE 
REVOLUTION AND THE WAR OF 1812 

The following list of the armed ships of Salem from 1776 
to 1783 includes both privateers and letters-of-marque. As 
defined in international law "letters-of-marque" as issued by a 
Government are privateering commissions, but in practice a 
distinction was made between the two classes of ships. A priva- 
teer cruised in pursuit of the enemy's commerce and went to 
sea for no other purpose, while a letter-of-marque vessel carried 
a cargo to a destined port or ports, taking prizes if they came 
in her way and defending herself against the enemy as a regu- 
larly commissioner private ship of war under heavy bonds to 
her government to obey the rules of warfare. 

The Naval Records of the Revolution, as compiled and pub- 
lished by the Library of Congress, contains a list of the letters- 
of-marque issued by the Government, and includes no fewer 
than one hundred and ninety of these commissions granted to 
Salem shipowners, and commanders, designating them all as 
"private armed ships of war." The most accurate catalogues 
of this kind that were compiled many years ago by local his- 
torians and shipmasters agree upon one hundred and fifty-eight 
as the total number of vessels of all kinds which actually engaged 
in privateering out of the port of Salem during the Revolution. 
The Government records show, however, that this reckoning 
falls far short of the total number of craft commissioned by 
means of letters-of-marque to prey upon England's commerce as 
private ships of war. Even these Government records are not 
complete, however, the names of several well-known privateers 

499 



Appendix 

being absent from the list, while on the other hand the name of 
one vessel may be recorded two, three, or four times, a new 
commission being granted and a new bond demanded when the 
ship, schooner, or brig changed commanders or owners. The 
bond required in all cases was in the sum of $20,000. 

From the Naval Records of the Revolution, and from all lists 
made and preserved in Salem archives and from other sources 
the following catalogue has been compiled, as the most nearly 
complete record of the private armed ships of Salem during the 
Revolution that has been published : 



Active brigantine } 

Adventure brig -| 



Name Class Commander Guns Men 

William Ross 14 60 

Johnson Briggs 

J. Gardner 4 10 

Jonathan Tucker 

America schooner Geo. Williams 8 80 

Aicdanta brig Cornelius Thompson 10 25 

American Hero ship William Fairfield 16 25 

Astrea ship John Derby 20 50 

Aurora brigantine Geo. Williams, Jr 6 12 

Aurora brig Caldwell 10 75 

Black Prince ship Nathaniel West 18 160 

Banter sloop Henry White 8 50 

Belisaurus ship 

Bloodhound brig 14 55 

Brutus ship John Leach 18 100 

Bunker Hill ship John Turner 20 110 

Blackbird schooner William Groves 8 20 

Black Snake sloop WilUam Carleton 12 60 

Bloom schooner Silas Smith 6 25 

Beaver schooner 10 swivels 

Bowdoin sloop 8 ... 

Buckaneer ship Jeremiah Hacker 18 150 

Centipede schooner 6 

Charming Polly brig D. Bigelow 

Captain brigantine John Donaldson 10 45 

I Johnson Briggs 

James Pickman. 16 60 
Jesse Fearson 

500 



Appendix 



Cutter schooner -j 



Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Chace brigantine Cornelius Thompson 10 35 

Concord brig Ephraim Emerton 

Silas Smith 8 20 

Joseph Strout 

Cutter brigantine Geo. Ashby, Jr 10 45 

Cicero ship Hugh Hill 20 100 

Covimerce sloop John Baptist Millet 10 25 

Commerce brigantine Ephraim Emerton 6 12 

Columbia schooner J. Greeley 12 30 

Comet brigantine.. ..... .Samuel Waters 6 15 

Comet schooner Richard Eldredge 9 29 

Creature Terrible brig Robert Richardson 14 43 

Catchall schooner Moses Chase 6 15 

„. ., TT , . ( Greag Powers 14 45 

^^^^U^^9e bng I Peter Martin 

Congress ship .David Ropes 20 130 

Cijrus ship Jonathan Mason, Jr 10 20 

Dispatch ship -John Felt 10 60 

' David Ropes 

William Gray 

Dolphin schooner ( Greag Powers. 8 30 

David Felt, Jr. 

Frank Benson 

Dart schooner Zenas Cook 6 22 

Delight schooner J. Temple 4 40 

Dan Galvez brig Silas Jones 6 16 

Disdain ship William Patterson 20 100 

Diana brigantine Robert Barker 6 16 

Defense brigantine John Barr 10 16 

Eagle brig John Leach 20 110 

r, 1. ,• ( Simon Forrester 20 60 

^^^^""^^ ^^'P jjohn Collins 

Experiment brigantine Samuel Ingersoll 6 14 

Essex ship John Cathcart , 20 150 

Elizabeth brig \ ^ ■, , ,^ ^ 

^ I Ichabod Clarke 

Exchange schooner Henry Tibbets. 2 15 

Franklin ship Silas Deval 18 25 

Fame brig Samuel Hobbs 16 50 

Freedom brig Benjamin Ober 7 15 

Fortune brig Benjamin Ives 14 60 

Favourite brigantine William Patterson 11 

501 



50 



Hazard sloop-schooner.. 



Affendix 

Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Fanny brigantine Samuel Tucker 4 12 

Felicity brig 8 20 

Flying Fish brigantine j John Gavett 

( Anthony Divers 

pi 1 j Christo2:)her Babbidge 6 25 

•' *^ """""^ ] Wilham Mallory 

E, , ( Jeremiah Lansvay 6 75 

tox schooner ■{ ^.t n 

( Jonathan Neall 

Friendship ship Gideon Henfield 6 20 

General Putnam schooner S. IVIascotte 8 66 

General Gates brig Skinner 8 ... 

General Lincoln brig John Carnes 

General Greene ship Aaron Crowell 16 90 

ni J rr 1 1 ■ ( Thomas Simmons 28 140 

Grand 1 urk snip ■{ 

[ Joseph Pratt 

r, TT 1 , ( Jacob Wilds 8 35 

Grey iiouna schooner i t i /-. 

( John Cooke 

Good Luck ship Jonathan Neall 8 20 

General Galvez sliip Thomas Smith 18 40 

Griffin brig Gideon Henfield 

Gamecock schooner Richard Smith 8 30 

General Montgoniery.. hrigantine Samuel Hobbs 14 60 

Harlequin schooner Jonathan Tucker 6 16 

Hornet schooner Robert Brookhouse. . .10 swivels 

Henry schooner John Baptist Millet 4 10 

Hasket & John brig Benjamin Crowninsliield 

Hero brig Silas Smith 12 50 

Hynde brig Francis Boardman 8 16 

Hector ship John Carnes 18 150 

Hector schooner John Cartright 6 15 

Hope schooner Robert Wormsted 8 25 

Hyder Alley brigantine Francis Boardman 8 16 

Hind brigantine Benjamin Dunham 8 16 

Nathaniel Coit Webb 8 25 



Benjamin Knight 

Edward Smith, Jr. 

Hugh Helme 

Hound brig John Adkinson 14 50 

Harkey galley Phineas Smith 2 18 

Hawke schooner j John Barbaroux 6 15 

( Jacob Wilde 
Iris ship Robert Rantoul 9 18 

502 



Appendix 

Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Jack ship David Ropes 14 60 

Junius Brutus ship John Brooks 20 120 

Jason ship Charles Hamilton 16 70 

Jidius Caesar ship i Thomas Benson 14 40 

( Jonathan Haraden 

Junius ship Nathaniel West 10 25 

Juno brig John Felt 12 16 

Jackall schooner.. ( Adam Wellman 8 45 



I 



Lively brig. 



Lion brig J 



Thomas Holmes 

James ship John Clarke 11 25 

John ship Jonathan Ingersoll 

Jupiter ship William Orne 14 40 

Joseph brig Henry Higginson 8 15 

Kendrick ship Thomas Benson 18 100 

I John Augusta Dunn 

Reuben Yoemens 4 25 
Jeremiah Hegerty. 

Lexington brig David Smith, Jr 10 20 

George Ashby 

John Augusta Dunn 8 35 

Nathaniel Brookhouse 

Live Oak sloop Samuel Tucker 6 20 

Jonathan Mason 16 50 

Benjamin Warren 

Lark schooner N. Tilden 10 swiveh . . . 

Lee schooner Daniel Waters 

Lincoln brig John Carnes 

Louis le Grande ship 18 100 

Lucy brig S. Clay 12 25 

Liberty sloop Eben Pierce 6 25 

Manete schooner John Daccaretta 6 10 

Ebenezer Reed 10 100 

John BufEngton 

Mermaid brig Jonathan Tucker 14 30 

Minerva sloop Nehemiah BufEngton 6 10 

Massachusetts brig -5 tt > 

( Jonathan Haraden 

Mars ship Wilham Woodbury 16 75 

Monmouth brigantine David Ingersoll 6 20 

11^ . u • 1- ( John Carnes 8 20 

Montgomery bngantme -{ 

( James Barr, Jr. 

Morning Star sloop Francis Roch 8 12 

503 



Marquis de Lafayette .sinp J 



A'p'pendix 



Name Clasfr Commander Guns Men 

Macaroni brig 14 ... 

New Adventure brig Jonathan Neall 14 50 

Nancy schooner. George Leach 6 25 

/ William Woodbury, Jr. 

Neptune ship < Hugh Smith 14 65 

I Silas Smith 

I Benjamin Cole 

Oliver Cromwell ship I Nathaniel West 16 100 

\ James Barr, Jr. 

Pallas ship Gamahel Hodges 10 20 

Pantlier schooner Samuel Masury 8 35 

Patty sloop Nathan Nichols 4 16 

I Simon Forrester 

John Derby 8 20 
David Smith 

Penguin schooner Samuel Foster 10 40 

Pickering ship Jonathan Haraden 16 50 

Porus ship.. Samuel Crowell 22 100 

Pilgrim ship Joseph Robinson 18 100 

Pompey schooner Silas Smith 

Putnam sliip Nathan Brown. 18 90 

Plato brig 

Pompey schooner W. Thomas 6 ... 

Port Packet ship Simon Forrester 8 20 

Race Horse schooner Alexander Story 8 25 

Rainbow schooner OUver Webb. 6 25 

Rattlesnake ship Mark Clark 20 85 

Raven. schooner David Needham 12 40 

r> u • A- ( Samuel Ingersoll , 

Recovery brigantine ^ ^ . . 

( William Dennis 

r> u ( Beniamin Knight 8 40 

Revenge schooner. ..... J , t^ 

( Samuel Foster 

Revolt brig Henry Phelps 8 20 

Resolution schooner. Joseph Trask 8 20 

Roebuck ship Gideon Henfield 14 90 

I Joshua Grafton 

Joseph W^aters 14 25 
Thomas Palfrey 

Rover ship James Barr, Jr 24 100 

Rover. schooner Thomas Morgridge 10 30 

Retaliation .brig. E. Giles 10 70 

Revenge sloop Benjamin Dean 10 

504 



Appendix 



Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Ranger schooner Thomas Simmons 10 20 

Rambler brig Benjamin Lovett 16 40 

Rhodes brig N. BufEngton 20 90 

Resolution ship Samuel West 20 130 

Robust ship Jonathan Tucker 12 25 



n 7 T • j Henry WilHams 12 

I Edward Stanley 



30 



SalemPacket ship ( Joseph Cooke. 12 30 

( John Brewer 

Satisfaction schooner Edward Stanley 6 30 

Speedwell brigantine John Murphy 10 50 

Scourge brigantine Parker 20 80 

Sharke '.sloop 10 swivels . . . 

Spanish Packet ship Thomas Dalling 10 20 

Sturdy Beggar brig i I?^^^^' Hathorne 8 60 

( Edward Rowland 

Shaker brig Stacey 6 40 

Spitfire schooner William Perkins 11 20 

Spy schooner Thomas Phihps 8 20 

o • u ( Nathaniel Perkins 8 35 

Surprize schooner i ^^ • t 

( Germam Langevain 

Surprize brig. . , Benjamin Cole 14 70 

Swift brig Israel Johnson 14 70 

Scorpion schooner Israel Thorndike. 16 60 

Swett schooner Joseph Pearson 12 

Spriiig Bird schooner John Patten 4 25 

Saucy Jack schooner 

Tartar schooner Thomas Dexter 10 18 

Thomas ship Francis Boardman 10 20 

Thrasher schooner.. ...... .Benjamin Cole 8 30 

Titus., sloop John Buchmore 4 11 

TwoBrothers ship i ™.T.^T ^^ 

( Daniel Sanders 

Tyger brig Samuel Crowell 14 70 

Thorn ship Samuel Tucker 

Trenton ship Joseph Nati 12 ... 

True American schooner Israel Thorndike 6 50 

I John Blackler 

Jonathan Gardner, 3d 8 25 
Isaac Smith 

Union. sloop John Pearson 6 30 

Venus ship Thomas Nicholson 10 20 

505 



Appendix 

Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Viper ship i Jonathan Neall 14 Co 

( Benjamin Hilton 

Washington brig Edmond Lewis 7 15 

Willing Maid schooner John Savage 4 25 

Wild Cat brig Daniel Ropes 14 75 

Warren schooner I. Thorndike 6 50 

William schooner Joseph Fearson 8 25 



PRIVATE ARMED SHIPS OF SALEM IN THE WAR OF 1812 

Name Class Commander Guns Men 

Active schooner Benjamin Patterson 12 25 

Alexander ship T. WilHams, Jr 18 140 

Alfred ship Benjamin Crowninshield 16 110 

I Joseph Ropes 

John Kehoe 20 150 
Jas. W. Chever 

Black Vomit boat John Upton muskets 16 

BucksJci7i schooner I. Bray 5 50 

Cadet schooner Wilham Galley 2 40 

Castigatar launch i Stephen G. Clarke 6 20 

( Spencer Hall 

ijohn Upton 

Wm. Davis 1 45 
Abner Poland 

DaH schooner j T Sy^onds 2 40 

( John Green 

Diomede schooner Jacob Crowninshield 3 100 

Dolphin schooner Jacob Endicott 1 70 

Enterprize schooner John R. Morgan 4 100 

Fair Trader schooner John R. Morgan 1 35 

i Abner Poland 
John Upton 2 30 
Webb 

Frolic schooner Nathan Green 1 60 

I J. B. H. Ordione 

Timothy Wellman 1 30 
Andrew Tucker 

General Putnam schooner John Evans 2 60 

General Stark schooner John Evans 3 50 

Holten J. Breed 18 150 

Nathan Green 



Grand Turk brig J 



506 



Appendix 



Name Class 

Growler schooner 



Helen schooner. 



Halh 



.boat. 



Commander Guns 

. . .Samuel B. Graves 

( Nathaniel Lindsay 4 

( John Upton 

( John Kehoe muskets 

( Samuel Lamson 

( S. Giles Downie 1 

■ ( T. Wellman, Jr. 

( James Fairfield 

I Benjamin Crowniushield 

John & George schooner John Sinclair, Jr 1 

Lizard schooner Samuel Loring 2 

j Holten J. Breed 10 

( Ben. Upton 



Jefferson sloop. 

John ship. . 



Montgomery brig. 



Onion boat j JohnUptom.. muskets 



Owl 

Phoenix. 
Polly.... 
Recovery. 



Jonathan Blythe 

boat William Duncan muskets 

schooner Stephenson Richards 1 

sloop Samuel C. Hardy 1 

schooner Joseph Peele 2 

Regulator schooner James Mansfield 

Revenge schooner John Sinclair, Jr 1 

Scorpion sloop Stephenson Richards 1 

Surift schooner Harney Choate 1 

Swiftsure launch i ^^P^*^" ^^""'^^ ^ 

( Charles Berry. 

Terrible boat John Green muskets 

Viper schooner Joseph Preston 1 

Wasp sloop Ernest A. Erwin 2 

RECAPITULATION 



Men 

105 

70 

16 

20 



50 

30 

100 

20 

14 

25 
60 
20 
50 
50 
20 
25 
20 

10 
20 
35 



REVOLXn"IONARY WAR 

Ships 56 

Brigs and Brigantines 69 

Sloops 14 

Schooner* 56 

Galley 1 

196 

Total number of guns 1,965 

Total number of men 7,631 

Total number of vessels. . . . 196 



WAR OF 1812 

Ships 4 

Brigs and Brigantines 2 

Sloops 4 

Schooners 21 

81 

Total number of guns 147 

Total number of men 2,081 

Total number of vessels. ... 31 



507 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Active, bark. Captain Richardson, di- 
verting tale of a green seaman, 219, 
first American trader in the Fijis, 
406, 

Adams, President John, address to 
Congress urging protection of mari- 
time commerce, 229. 

Adventure, brig, founders at sea, mar- 
velous escape of her captain, 33. 

Adventures, list of, sent in Salem 
ships to the Orient, 188-89. 

Atheneum, Salem, founded with li- 
brary captured by privateer, 302. 

America, privateer in War of 1812; 
her trading voyages to the Red Sea, 
355; fighting equipment and com- 
plement, 357; first cruise in com- 
mand of Captain Joseph Ropes, 
357; second cruise under Captain 
James Kehew, 358; log of cruises 
in command of Captain James 
Chever, 359-62; fight with packet 
Princess Elizabeth, 364. 

Archer, Captain Henry, wreck of his 
ship Glide in Fijis, 408. 

Ashton, Philip, journal of captivity 
among pirates, 44-57. 

Astrea, first American ship to visit 
Manila, 304. 

Atlantic, first ship to show American 
colors to East India Company, 494. 

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, version of 
Captain Richard Cleveland's sea 
fight with Spanish at San Diego, 349. 

Barbary Pirates, attacks on Salem 
commerce and seamen held in 
bondage (1661), 22; appeal posted 
in Salem for funds to ransom cap- 
tives from, 226. 

Barney, Lieutenant Joshua, escape 
from Mill Prison, 131-33. 

Barr, James, commanding privateer 
Rover, 65. 



Battis, John, narrative of the piracy of 
the brig Mexican, 432-50. 

Beal, Captain John, capture of his ship 
Essex by French privateers (1690), 
21. 

Bentley, Rev. William, diary of; ac- 
count of Madame Susannah Ha- 
thorne's recollections of witchcraft 
persecutions, 26; loss of ship Bru- 
tus, 220; rides to Marblehead on a 
gun-carriage to help save the Con- 
stitution, 375. *■ 

Betsey, schooner, taken by French 
frigate (1759), 31. 

Boardman, Francis, his quaint sea 
journals, 35; his poetry, 37; his 
superstitions, 38. 

Bertram, John, the last great shipping 
merchant of Salem, 487; his ven- 
tures to South America and Zanzi- 
bar, 489-90. 

John Bertram, ship, built and 
launched in sixty days for Califor- 
nia trade, 491. 

Bowditch, Nathaniel, his precocious 
youth as a prodigy of learning, 301; 
sea life and voyages including jour- 
nal of stay in Manila, 304-9; his 
"Practical Navigator" 299; honors 
paid him after death, 298; his be- 
quest to Salem Marine Society, 
309, 

Bowditch, William, held in bondage 
by Barbary priates (1700), 22. 

Breed, Holton J., captain of privateer 
Grand Turk, 370. 

Briggs, Enos, master builder of the 
Essex frigate, 232. 

Burlingame, Anson, U. S. Minister to 
China, his account of the death 
of Frederick Townsend Ward, 
472-4. 

Butman, Captain John G., com- 
mander of brig Mexican, 431. 



511 



Index 



Carey, William, his life as a castaway 
in the Fijis, 417. 

Carnes, Captain Jonathan, fetches 
home first cargoes of wild pepper 
from Sumatra (1795), 185; 

Caroline, cutter, hazardous voyage of 
Captain Richard Cleveland in, 
332-35. 

Chever, Captain James, his brilliant 
career as a privateersman, 358-66. 

Chronometer, invention and perfec- 
tion of, 293-94. 

Cleveland, George, journal of voyage 
to Japan, (1800), 257-63. 

Cleveland, Captain Richard, his recol- 
lections of methods and enterprises 
of typical Salem merchants, 174; 
journal and description of his voy- 
ages, 329; obituary notice of, 
352; captured in ship Telemanco, 
by a British friga*e, 307. 

Cleopatra's Barge, first American 
yacht, voyage of, 207-13. 

Commerce, decline of foreign, 17; 
British restrictions on American, 

29. 

Conant, Roger, his settlement of 
Salem, 18. 

Crowninshield, six brothers at sea, 
204, Benjamin W., Secretary of 
Navy, 205; George, builds first 
American yacht, 206; his notable 
voyage to the Mediterranean, 207- 
241; brings body of Captain James 
Lawrence from Halifax in brig 
Henry, 376, Benjamin, Jr., voyage 
to Mocha in America, 355; 

Custom House, Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne's description of, 17, 492-3; 
decline of shipping business, 484. 

Dana, Richard Henry, mentions ex- 
ploits of Captain Richard Cleve- 
land on coast of Lower California, 
348. 

Derby, Elias Hasket, foremost in 
equipping Salem privateers of Revo- 
lution, 96; sends Grand Turk on 
first American voyage to Cape of 
Good Hope, 173; recaptures 
schooner Amity and restores her to 
her skipper, 177; education as a 
merchant and successful voyages, 
181-2; sends Astrea on first Amer- 



ican voyage to Manila (1796), 186; 
contributes $10,000 to buildmg 
Essex frigate, 231. 

Derby, Elias Hasket, Jr., narrative of 
the brilliant voyage of the Mount 
Vernon (1799), 190-92. 

Derby, Captain John, carries first 
news of Lexington and Concord to 
England in Quero, 159-69; one of 
owners of ship Columbia which ex- 
plored Northwest coast and dis- 
covered Columbia River, 170. 

Derby, Captain Richard, voyage to 
the West Indies in the Volante 
(1741); copy of instructions from 
owners, 30. 

Derby, Captain Samuel, voyage to 
Japan in Margaret (1800), 257. 

Derby Wharf, its privateering activity 
during Revolution, 64; its vanished 
greatness, 17. 

Desire, West Indiaman, first ship 
trading from Salem (1640), 20. 

DeSoto, pirate, gallant rescue of crew 
of Minerva, 447. 

Devereux, Captain James, voyage 
to Japan in Franklin (1799), 
252-6. 

Dike Anthony, master mariner, frozen 
to death with crew after shipwreck 
on Cape Cod, 32. 

Doggett, Charles, brig, carries descend- 
ants of Bounty mutineers from Ta- 
hiti to Pitcairn Island, 407. 

Driver, Captain Michael, his misfor- 
tunes at the hands of privateers and 
freebooters, 31. 

Driver, Captain William (see Charles 
Doggett, brig), 407. 

Dutch intercourse with Japan in 1799, 
251. 

Eagleston, Captain John H., career in 
South Seas, 407; rescues crew of 
Glide in Fijis, 429. 

East India Marine Society, history 
and purpose, 10; resolutions adopt- 
ed at death of Nathaniel Bowditch, 
298; report of committee to exam- 
ine "Practical Navigatorl" 300. 

Embargo, disastrous effects of, 482-3. 

Endicott, Captain Chas. M., capture 
of his vessel, the Friendship, by 
Malay pirates, 378. 



512 



Index 



Endicott, John, first governor of 
colony, 18. 

Endeavor, first American ship to pass 
through Straits of Magellan, 494. 

English, Philip, first great shipping 
merchant of Salem; copy of bill of 
lading, 24; his mansion, 25; trial 
of his wife for witchcraft, 25-28; 
letter of instructions to one of his 
ship-masters, (1722), 28. 

Essex, ship, loses boatswain in sea 
fight (1695), 21. 

Essex, frigate, popular subscription 
raised to build, 231: details of her 
building, 233; dimensions, 295; 
first American war vessel to pass 
Cape of Good Hope, 239; fight 
with the Phoebe and the Cherub, 
241-46; broadside ballad des- 
cribing her gallant end, 247. 

Exchange, ketch, taken by French 
ship off Block Island (1695), 21. 

Fairfield, William, letter written on 
board a Salem slaver, 222. 

Fellowship, ketch, taken by French 
privateers (1690), 21. 

Felt, Captain John, defies British at 
North Bridge, 158. 

Forbes, Robert Bennett, his remi- 
niscences of life at sea, 203, 312. 

Fox, Ebenezer, an account of recruit- 
ing for State cruiser in Revolution, 
68. 

Franklin, ship, voyage to Japan 
(1799), 252-6. 

Friendship, tragedy of the, 378. 

Fuller, Captain Thomas, seaman in 
brig Mexican, 431, captured by 
pirates, 434; incident of trial of 
pirates, 446. 

Gardner, Samuel, diary of voyage to 
Gibraltar (1759), 33-5. 

Gazette, Salem, denounciation of Bos- 
ton Massacre, 150; account of 
Lexington and Concord fights, 166; 
description of launching of frigate 
Essex, 233; trial of pirates of Pin- 
da, 444. 

Gage, General Thomas, transfers seat 
of Colonial government from Bos- 
ton to Salem, 151-53. 



George, ship, remarkably successful 
career of, 198-9. 

Gillis, Captain James D., his services 
to navigation, 378. 

Glide, wreck of, 408. 

Gordon, "Chinese," 467. 

Grand Turk, ship, first American ves- 
sel at Cape of Good Hope, 173. 

Grand Turk, privateer of 1812, log of 
cruises under Captain Nathan 
Green, 370. 

Gray, William, lieutenant of privateer 
Jack (1782), 74; owns great fleet of 
ships in foreign trade, 202; contri- 
butes $10,000 to building Essex 
frigate, 231. 

Guam, description of (1801), 279. 

Haraden, Jonathan, privateersman, 
first commission as lieutenant of 
Tyrannicide, 78; commands the 
Pickering in spectacular battle with 
the Achilles, 80; captures three 
British armed vessels in one en- 
gagement, 85; stories of his gal- 
lantry and brilliant seamanship, 
87-89; his fight with the king's 
packet, 90; makes rigging for Essex 
frigate in his rope-walk, 233. 

Haswell, William, journal of a voyage 
to Guam, 274. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, in the Salem 
Custom House, 6; his father's log, 
7; descriptions of Salem as a decay- 
ing port, 492. 

Heaving down a ship, description of, 
409. 

Henry of Portugal, Prince, encourages 
improvement in science of naviga- 
tion, 290. 

Howe, Captain Ephriam, lives eight 
months alone on a desolate island, 
32. 

Ingersoll, Captain Jonathan, makes 
first American voyage to Cape of 
Good Hope, 176. 

Insurance, marine, premium rates of 
eighteenth century, 30. 

Jones, John Paul, proclamation call- 
ing for seamen for Ranger, 72; 
ballad celebrating escape of Ranger 
from British squadron, 71. 



513 



Index 



Kehew, Captain John, commanding 

privateer America, 358. 
Kirwan, Dr. Richard, capture of his 

library by Beverly privateer, 30i2. 

Lawrence, Captain James, com- 
mander of Chespeake, his funeral in 
Salem, 376. 

Laurens, Henry, United States Min- 
ister to Holland, his capture and 
imprisonment, 126. 

Li Hung Chang, his official tribute to 
memory of Ward, 469. 

Leslie, Colonel, his retreat from 
North Bridge, Salem, 154. 

Little, Captain Luther, adventures as 
a merchant sailor, 98; on board 
the Protector in her fight with 
the Admiral Duff, 142. 

McHenry, James, Secretary of War, 
letter urging naval measures to pro- 
tect American commerce, 230. 

Magellan, journal of his discovery of 
the Marianne Islands (Guam), 
273. 

Manila, first American voyage to, 
iournal of Nathaniel Bowditch, 
304. 

Manley, Captain John, dashing career 
as naval officer and capture by 
British frigate, 119; challenges fel- 
low prisoner to duel, 128. 

Marine Museum, unique relics and 
collections in, 14. 

Marquis de Somereulas, ship, rescues 
remnant of company of English 
transport, 217. 

Martineau, Harriet, describes Salem 
of seventy-five years ago, 13. 

Mason, Colonel David, takes leading 
part in opposing British at North 
Bridge, 156. 

Minerva, ship, gallant rescue of her 
crew by pirate de Soto, 447. 

Montgomery, privateer, fight with 
English packet, 374. 

Morse, Prof., Edward S., director of 
Peabody Museum, 16. 

Navigation, early instruments and 

methods of, 290. 
New Priscilla, brig, crew butchered 

by pirates, 441. 



North Bridge, Salem, scene of first 
armed clash of Revolution, 154. 

Orne, Captain Joseph, slain with his 
crew by Arabs, 216. 

Osgood, John, lieutenant of priva- 
teer Fame, quells mutiny, 94; cap- 
tured by British frigate, 95. 

Peabody, Joseph, career as shipping 
merchant, 197; repulse of British 
boarding party on Ranger, 199. 

Perkins & Co., letter to agents in 
Canton, showing immense reward 
of commercial daring, 202. 

Perkins, Thomas, supercargo, letter 
of instructions, 182-4. 

Pickering, Timothy, takes part in 
affair with British at North Bridge, 
154. 

Pilgrim, ship, fight with Spanish 
frigate, 96. 

Pirates, expedition against (1689), 41; 
ketch Margaret destroyed by, 42; 
brigantine Charles captured by 
Quelch, 43; execution of Quelch 
and others, 44;, notorial records 
describe encounter of ship Hopeivell 
with, 43; protest of Captain John 
Shatuck relating capture by, 45; 
adventures of Philip Ashton while 
in the hands of Ned Low, 46-59; 
fiendish cruelty of, 441; capture of 
brig Mexican, 434; trial and execu- 
tion of eleven pirates, 444-49. 

Porter, Captain David, takes com- 
mand of Essex frigate, 240; fights 
the Phoebe and the Cherub, 241-47. 

Ports, foreign, in which Salem ships 
traded, (1810-1830), 15. 

Potomac, frigate, bombardment of 
Malay settlement of Quallah Bat- 
too, 402. 

Preble, Captain Edward, first com- 
mander of Essex frigate, 236. 

Privateers, number of Salem vessels in 
Revolution, 58; copy of bill of sale 
of prize shares, 64, recruiting with 
fife and drum, 67; tavern bill for 
rendezvous of crew, 68; in War of 
1812, 353; small craft employed, 
499; articles of agreement, 65; list 
of Salem privateers in Revolution, 
500; in War of 1821, 506. 



514 



Index 



Quero, schooner, carries first news to 
England of Lexington and Concord 
fights, 159. 

Quill, brig. Captain Kinsman, in 
South Seas, 434. 

Rantoul, Robert S., narrative and 
documents concerning General 
Frederick Townsend Ward, 451; 
eulogy of Salem commerce, 492. 

Register, Essex, account of piracy of 
Mexican, 442. 

Richardson, Captain William, voyage 
to the Fijis, 406. 

Rousillon, Count de, voyages and ad- 
ventures with Captain Richard 
Cleveland, 343. 

Ropes, Captain David, death in priva- 
teering action, 72; Captain Joseph, 
commander of privateer America in 
War of 1812, 357. 

Rowan, Captain, plunder of his ship 
by Governor of Valparaiso, 347. 

Rubicon, ship, captain's sentimental 
cipher in log, 213. 

Russell, William, capture in ship 
Jason, 119; account of life in Old 
Mill Prison, reinlistment and captiv- 
ity in the Jersey prison ship, 143, 
untimely death, 148. 

Sailor's Vade Mecum, instructions for 
preparing merchant ships for action, 
60. 

Salem Marine Society, its foundation 
and records, 11-12. 

Salem Packet, captures French ship, 
21. 

Scorpion, privateer schooner, quaint 
log of, 76. 

Silver, Captain Peter, rescues skip- 
per's wife from bark Kilmars, 485. 

Silsbee, Nathaniel, beginning of his 
sea life at fourteen, 311; a captain 
at eighteen, 313; commands ship 
Benjamin on voyage to the Orient 
at nineteen, 314; encounters a pri- 
vateer, 318; impressment of one of 
his seamen by British frigate, 319; 
his ship Portland confiscated by the 
French at Malaga, and released be- 
cause of his remarkable sagacity 
and courage, 321; commands a 



merchant fleet in attack by French 
privateer, 326; United States Sena- 
tor from Massachusetts, 328. 

Snell, Captain Nicholas, his meeting 
with pirate de Soto, 449. 

Story, Justice Joseph, trial of pirates 
of Pinda, 445. 

Success, letter of marque, singular 
entry in log of, 76. 

Thoreau, Henry D. describes the busi- 
ness of a successful Salem shipping 
merchant, 187. 

Tory, letter from a, describing condi- 
tions in Salem during Revolution, 
93. 

Turner, Captain John, captures Brit- 
ish ship after hard fight, 96. 

Upton, Captain Benjamin, his des- 
perate fight in privateer Mont- 
gomery, 374. 

Vandeford, Captain Benjamin, in the 
South Seas as pilot for Commodore 
Wilkes, 406, at the Fijis in ship 
Clay, 418. 

Ward, Frederick Townsend, his fore- 
bears, 452, life as a mariner, 454; 
with Walker, the filibuster, 455; 
leader of the Chinese "Ever Vic- 
torious Army," 458; death in bat- 
tle, 465; tributes of foreign officers 
to his valor, 466; Imperial decree 
deifying his memory, 468; ded- 
ication of Chinese temple in his 
honor, 474. 

Warehouses, cargoes that filled them 
a century ago, 16. 

Waters, John, bill of sale of privateer- 
ing shares, 65. 

Weld, Dr. Charles G., gift of building 
to Peabody Academy, 15. 

West, Captain Ebenezer, biography 
of, 179; Captain Edward, 180; 
Captain Nathaniel, 181. 

Whepley, David, his life among the 
Fiji Islanders, 411. 

Wilkes, Commodore, in the South 
Seas, 406. 



Young, John, one of first white men 
to dwell in Sandwich Islands, 349. 



515 



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